The Dread Wolf's Shadow
by Theodur
Summary: The events of the Trespasser DLC are about to unfold, but the Inquisitor is dead and the Inquisition long since disbanded. Who will rise to answer these new threats posed to the world of Thedas? Sequel to 'Defenders of the Empty Throne' and my other Dragon Age stories.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 _Arcane University, Antiva City_

First Enchanter Bethany Hawke sat by the desk in her office at the university, her brow creased slightly as she carefully and diligently perused the theses in theoretical research of the Creation school of magic, handed in by the senior students under her tutelage at the arcane university of Antiva. The classes for the day had concluded several hours ago, and the students had all returned home, save for the few who had come from more distant corners of the land, and even outside of Antiva just to study under her, these students making good use of the comfortable dormitories built next to the university. The grounds were no longer under the vigilant watch of the Templar Order, rather a detachment of the city guard who had completed special training to handle incidents involving mages, something that they had fortunately managed to keep down to a minimum.

Bethany was incredibly proud of how much they had managed to accomplish over the past year, once the arcane university had opened its doors, aware that considering her relationship with Divine Victoria, the Antivan university would come under increased scrutiny, the freshly baked First Enchanter knowing that she had to set a shining example for the rest of Thedas. So far, Bethany felt that she was doing an adequate job, and the response of the community was very positive, starting to feel and appreciate the value of mages and their craft. The students were also reacting very positively, people of all ages flocking to the university, more than three hundred active mages registered with the Antivan university as per the new edict of Divine Victoria, well over a hundred of them choosing to attend classes as well, even if not everyone did so with equal regularity. Bethany and the other tutors encouraged such arrangement, for there were many who simply wanted to learn enough to control their dangerous gift, and not everyone wanted to become a supreme master of the energies of the Fade. It was the task of the university to accommodate mages with varying degrees of commitment, and Bethany felt that so far, she and her fellow teachers had handled it well. The only source of slight frustration for her was that all too often she had to deal with one of her students developing a terrible crush on her, Bethany having to make sure that she let yet another amorous admirer down gently.

Still, despite everything, Bethany always felt happy and thrilled to stand in front of her class and share the knowledge she had accumulated with so many people of all ages, willing to learn more about magic, something that bound them all together into a large but still tightly knit family. In many ways, she had already discovered back in the Kirkwall Circle of Magi that being a tutor was a calling of hers, working with the magically gifted children there Bethany had learned that she possessed the kindness and patience required to become a good teacher. There were so many fond memories from her first year at the university already, none more so than the expedition at the end of the year that she had arranged for the top students of her class, a somewhat tricky and dangerous adventure to pursue an old lead that she had set aside from her days with the Inquisition. Together with her students and a group of well-respected mercenaries, they had traveled deep within the Planasene Forest to discover the lost temple of the elven god Dirthamen. Bracing the dangers of the ancient traps inside, they had emerged victorious, much to the delight of Bethany and her students managing to recover the elven blade of legend, Evanura.

Now, the great blade stood mounted on the wall in Bethany's office, easily one of her dearest artifacts in the place which had already began to feel like home away from home for her, the other items being two framed paintings that always remained within the line of sight from her desk, the larger one a beautiful portrait of her beloved Josephine, the second a drawing of them both together, enjoying a stroll on the Antiva City docks under a parasol. _Ah, Josie... I love the responsibility of being the First Enchanter, of tutoring these mages, especially the children, but... if I could not return to your loving embrace every evening, my life would feel so empty. You truly do bring light into my life, beloved..._ Bethany sighed to herself, staring dreamily at the portrait of her beloved, all focus on the theses before her gone for the moment. She was about to drag herself away from daydreaming about Josie and force herself back to evaluating the work of her students, when she overheard a soft growling noise, accompanied by slight huffing and puffing, coming from a large wicker basket next to her desk. Bethany turned to glance at the basket, grinning and chuckling at herself when she saw that her pet fennec, Ser Fluffsworth, was once again busy chasing some harmless country vole in his sleep, kicking with his little paws as he tried to run while sleeping. Leaning down to ruffle the fur of her pet fox, Bethany glanced at the window only to discover that the sun was already much lower in the sky than she had expected it to be, suddenly realizing that she would inevitably be late for dinner at the Montilyet Estate yet again, something that failed to further endear her to Josephine's mother, a relationship that remained strained and frosty to this very day.

"Time to wake up, Ser Fluffsworth," Bethany chuckled, gently poking the sleepy fennec awake, Ser Fluffsworth rearing his head before starting to wash Bethany's finger with his warm, slightly coarse tongue that felt awfully ticklish. "Alright, alright, that's enough out of you," she chided the little fox. "We need to hurry home now, or we'll both end up in the doghouse," Bethany added, retrieving a leash from a desk drawer and then fastening it to the collar around Fluffsworth's neck, the fennec trained to accept the leash and walk obediently with it.

With the arcane university built slightly on the outskirts of the city, due to some initial lingering concerns of the citizenry to keep the mages at respectable distance, the walk to the Montilyet Estate was not overly long, taking slightly more than a quarter of an hour if Bethany made sure to hurry. Still, even with haste, Bethany's heart sank when she entered the large dining hall to see that the stern and disapproving servants were already starting to clear the table, after she had missed dinner for the third time this week. A quick glance around the hall revealed that Josephine's parents had already departed, but her beloved was still present, in the middle of her meal, while her younger sister, Yvette, sat on the opposite side of the table to Josie, her meal half-eaten as she was holding a book over her plate, reading it with an enraptured expression on her comely, exuberant face.

"Sorry... I did it again," Bethany sighed, slumping down into her seat to regard the cold pieces of nug chops and roasted tubers with Antivan red sauce in front of her, then bending down to remove Ser Fluffsworth's leash and send the excited fennec scurrying around the floor and becoming a nuisance for the many servants of the estate.

"Umm... I'm not exactly in position to berate you, Bethany. I also was late for dinner today, which is why I'm still stuck here," Josephine admitted, a little ruefully. "Mother was, of course, furious at us both."

"Of course," Bethany groaned. "I really need to do better, though." She sliced off a bite of the nug chop and nibbled on it delicately. "Well, at least this isn't horrible when cold. Not like the rest," she sighed, poking at the roasted tubers that had become soggy and disgusting with the thick sauce. "Good book, Yvette?" Bethany chuckled, looking over at Josephine's sister who had barely acknowledged her arrival with a minute nod.

"Oh, please... don't even start," Josephine groaned. "She's like obsessed with it, bringing it to dinner, barely eating anything and then pulling that book out as soon as mother and father had left the table."

"Well, it must be good then," Bethany smiled.

"What? Oh... oh!" Yvette finally stopped reading, just barely overhearing that she had become the topic of conversation for the other two. "Oh, the book! Yes, it's wonderful! 'Storms of Temptation', by Dan'el Mythril. Her best by a long shot."

"What is it about?" Bethany asked against her better judgment while munching on the cold but still tender and pleasantly spicy nug chop.

"Let me just read you the synopsis," Yvette happily offered, closing the book and flipping it over to read the print on the back. "For the first elven captain in the Antivan Navy, Kiel Zebulon's inaugural assignment was a routine trading mission down to Wycome. Little did he know that the fiery Amethyste Couronne, a passenger he picked up in the Free Marches, was heir to an enormous fortune... a fortune Rivaini pirate Prince Elrado Huracan would do anything to get his hands on! Unable to resist Amethyste's pleas for help, Kiel finds himself racing to get her back to Val Royeaux even as the ferocious Huracan pursues them and their passions ensure the eight seas would never be the same! "

"I stole a peek... it's as horrible as that summary suggests," Josephine snorted.

"Bah, Josie, you just don't understand true art," Yvette scoffed at her older sister. "Oh, and you have no romantic bone in your body." Bethany and Josephine exchanged quick glances at that, both barely avoiding bursting into giggles, nearly choking on their food.

"Perhaps you should go on a boat trip, Yvette," Bethany suggested. "A handsome pirate prince might decide to romantically abduct you and charm you into becoming his pirate mistress."

"Better not," Josephine frowned as Yvette appeared ponderous at Bethany's suggestion. "'Pride of Rialto' is already two days late."

"Oh," Bethany's face fell at that, realizing the reason for Josephine's curtness. Her cousin Sandral and his wife had departed Rialto over a week ago, and should have by now arrived in Antiva City, but reports of massive storms in the Bay of Rialto were making Josephine understandably concerned. "That's what made you miss the dinner?" Bethany asked.

"Yes," Josephine nodded swiftly. "I spent all day trying to get any information I could, then sending out messages to all our trading vessels currently in the bay to ask if they could possibly change their course and assist with searching for the 'Pride of Rialto'. It's getting hard to remain optimistic as more and more time passes, though."

"I'm sure cousin Sandral will be just fine, Josie, you're fretting too much," Yvette spoke cheerfully, flipping the book open again and submerging back into the decadent world of romantic piracy on the eight seas.

"All the same, I'm relieved they decided to leave Constance back in Rialto," Josephine said, shuddering lightly, referring to Sandral's four-year-old daughter. Initially, the girl had been expected to accompany her parents, but Josephine had managed to talk Sandral out of it, considering little Constance had only recently recovered from a very dangerous and exhausting case of a hundred-day cough. "Of course, if..." she began to speak, but then stopped herself, not wanting to give voice to her worst fears.

"Don't think that Josie, not yet," Bethany tried an encouraging smile at her beloved. "Let me quickly sate my hunger and then we shall see about distracting you from your worries, shall we?"

"That does sound acceptable," Josephine managed a small smile in reply, casting a glance at Yvette as if expecting a snarky comment, but her sister was already too lost in her book to pay any attention to them. Once Bethany had finished eating, the pair wasted little time in retreating to their personal quarters on the third floor of the villa, two comfortable work studies with a large bedroom in-between, overseeing the beautiful gardens of the estate and the lush vineyards beyond as far as the eye could see.

"So... were your parents really that irate with us?" Bethany asked quietly as she moved to stand behind Josephine, her beloved pausing at the window and taking in the beautiful view of the blossoming garden below.

"You know that my father doesn't notice these... breaches of protocol," Josephine sighed, leaning in against Bethany when she felt her lover's arms slipping around her waist. "Especially when his muse comes calling and he gets one of his artistic inspirations. Ever since you figured out how to get on his good side, he's been speaking only flattering things about you... and failing to notice how much that annoys my mother."

"Well, it wasn't hard to figure that out... like all artistically inclined people, your father simply wants other people to show interest in his work," Bethany chuckled. "And I find it fun to converse with him, at least when he's in a frame of mind to actually notice other people around him. Now, if only endearing myself to your mother would be as simple. Some days I can't really think of what else to try."

"I don't know if it's at all possible... unless we find some way for you to get me pregnant, love," Josephine grumbled, tensing a little at the mention of this lingering rift between two of the most important people in her life.

"Umm... I'm not sure magic has solved that issue just yet, Josie," Bethany replied, gently propping her chin on her beloved's shoulder to also partake in the beautiful view outside, inhaling the intoxicating scent that she had come to associate with Josephine, sweet softness of roses, but with a touch of tantalizing spice to it.

"She brought it up yet again today," Josephine sighed. "I don't know why it's even so important to her! Laurien's wife is expecting and Antoine plans to marry his girlfriend come the autumn... I'm sure in time even Yvette will settle down and marry someone with not too scandalous a reputation. Why does mother need me to give her offspring, I'm sure she'll have plenty of grandchildren to dote over one way or another!"

"Shush, love... not one more word about it, shall we agree to that?" Bethany whispered in her beloved's ear. "There's nothing we can do to fix it, so there's no reason to get angry about it, yes? We should... we should do something that distracts you from these thoughts, these rows with your mother and worries about your cousin."

"I was thinking about a quiet evening in the garden and then perhaps retiring to bed early... but it does sound as if you have something else in mind?" Josephine asked with a glint in her eyes, turning around to face Bethany.

"I do," Bethany grinned. "I think we should do something... wild, to take our minds off these matters. We should go out and hit the city for an evening of revelry, but I don't want us to frequent any of these respectable and clean establishments that come with the stamp of your mother's approval. We should dress up in simple clothes and go someplace rowdier, someplace like the Hanged Man of Kirkwall, where there are danger and thrills to face."

"Oh... how positively scandalous!" Josephine gasped, immediately looking excited about the idea. "Mother would be furious if she found out... which means that we **must** do it!"

"Let's see if we can find something suitable to wear, then," Bethany chuckled, turning away from the window, casting her eyes upon the large four-poster bed in which she had shared so many wonderful nights of passion with her beloved, noticing an oddly shaped box sitting on the nightstand on her side of the bed. "Umm, Josie? What's with the box?" she stopped to ask the Antivan.

"Oh? Oh! The box!" Josephine exclaimed, slapping a hand across her brow. "By the Maker, I completely forgot about it! Your shipment finally arrived earlier this morning."

"What shipment?" Bethany blinked in surprise.

"Hmm? The servants told me that the elven messenger who delivered it said that you were expecting this," now it was Josephine's turn to appear surprised.

"No... I'm most certainly not expecting any shipments," Bethany spoke, approaching the box with guarded steps. "Stand well back, Josie. There's no telling what could be inside," she warned her suddenly worried looking lover.

"Be careful, Bethany," Josephine warned unnecessarily, Bethany summoning an arcane barrier that protected them both before she used her force magic to tug the box towards her, forcing it to topple from the nightstand and watching as a brightly glowing object together with a single sheet of parchment fell from it.

"Well, at least it's nothing dangerous," Bethany sighed with relief as she approached the spilled contents of the box, but her heart immediately began to pound faster as soon as she picked up the item that had fallen to the floor, recognizing it instantly. "I know what this is..." she whispered, showing the brightly glowing magical shard to Josephine, the former ambassador of the Inquisition looking at her expectantly for an explanation. "This is the key to a riddle we never solved during the days of the Inquisition," Bethany spoke quietly. "A sanctuary to the elven god Fen'Harel deep within the southwestern desert of Orlais. We lacked the master shard to open the temple doors... and now it has been sent to me?"

"Strange... and worrying," Josephine spoke, looking rather alarmed. "What does the note say?" she asked.

"Let's see," Bethany said, picking up the parchment and unfolding it, instantly recognizing the handwriting. "Danger threatens the peace of Thedas we worked so hard to forge, and only we have the power to stop this threat, but I need your help. Bring Riona, but nobody else. You will know where to go."

"Ominous," Josephine whispered. "I take it's not signed."

Bethany shook her head at that. "There was no need, I know who it's from. Merrill."

"Merrill?" Josephine blinked. "The Merrill who disappeared from the face of Thedas yet again?" Bethany winced as she nodded at that. "It does sound serious, though... and Merrill was a good friend and ally, so... I suppose we should take this message seriously." Bethany nodded yet again. "What does she mean when she says that you'll know where to go?" Josie asked then. "Does she mean this temple in the Forbidden Oasis? That's where it was located, wasn't it?"

"I'm afraid that's what it means, yes," Bethany muttered. "The master shard is clearly an invitation."

"You'll go, won't you?" Josephine asked, sounding a little guarded to mask her worry. "I mean... you have to, really."

"Not before I've discussed it with Riona," Bethany replied, mustering a smile to reassure her beloved. "I'm not sure how she will feel about abandoning her son to travel all this way deep into Orlais. "

"It will be... agonizing to be parted from you for an extended period of time, but I don't want to influence your decision, Bethany," Josephine said, clearly looking conflicted. "Also, I suppose we should scrap our plans for the evening."

"What? No... no, why would we do that?" Bethany shook her head vehemently. "No, just give me ten minutes to write and send a letter to Riona. After that, I'm taking you out for a wild evening of drinking and partying, my beloved Lady Montilyet," she spoke with a promise in her voice.

* * *

It took an entire week for the messenger raven to bring Bethany's letter to Kirkwall and return with her sister's reply, a large black bird perching on the windowsill of Bethany and Josephine's bedroom one evening when they were already close to retiring for the night, the raven alerting them by urgently knocking on the glass with its sharp beak. Upon seeing the raven and expecting the bird to carry a reply from her sister, Bethany immediately forgot just how tired she felt at the end of another satisfying but exhausting day and jumped out of the bed to run up to the window and open it, letting the raven inside, watching as it made a lazy circle around the room before perching down on the backrest of a chair and allowing Bethany to retrieve the message, the First Enchanter swiftly unfolding the note to read it.

"So?" Josephine asked expectantly after Bethany had so swiftly abandoned her in the bed. "What does Riona say to all of this?"

"Umm... I'm not sure it's from Riona, actually," Bethany blinked, having quickly perused the surprisingly short message. "It just says 'Behind you!' I don't understand..." she said, then freezing as she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder from behind, Josephine going wide eyed and pointing towards her with a trembling hand, trying to speak, but too shocked to get a single word across her lips.

"Boo!" the person behind her spoke suddenly, making Bethany jump from fright before she swiftly swiveled around, ready to set the intruder on fire... only to end up staring in the laughing face of her older sister.

"Gah!" Bethany exclaimed, glaring at her sister, regardless of how happy she was to see her. "Riona! What... how?! That is such a mean trick! How did you pull that off?"

"I... I saw her change shape..." Josephine stuttered, still looking at Riona with eyes almost comically wide. "One moment I saw the raven... and then Riona was standing there, instead of the bird!"

"Just a little trick I picked up along the way," Riona winked, then proceeding to give her sister a tight hug, repeating it a moment later with Josephine. "How are you two doing? I tried my best not to interrupt anything too private."

"We are fine, and you didn't interrupt anything, but... that's not just some little trick, Riona," Bethany sternly shook her head at her sister. "No, I'll recognize that magic anywhere. Morrigan must have finally given in and taught you her shapeshifting spells." The way Riona's grin broadened at that was all the confirmation Bethany needed. "My, my, she wouldn't do that for just anyone," Bethany teased. "You know, Ri... I'm starting to think that Varric might have been onto something in that book of his."

"And which we most definitely have **not** read," Josephine insisted desperately.

"I would certainly hope so," Riona frowned at that. "Morrigan and I won't rest until all copies of that vile book have been burned. I would suggest that you mention it's existence as sparingly as possible, or preferably not at all," she added, hefting her staff meaningfully as she stared at her grinning younger sibling.

"I don't know, Riona," Bethany shook her head irrepressibly, not at all intimidated. "I think you and Morrigan aren't helping your case with the reaction you have towards this book. You know the saying about protesting too much..." Josephine let out a sputtering chuckle at that, silencing herself quickly and looking guilty when Riona turned to glare at her.

"I'm sure we have more important things to do than idle speculation about my relationship with Morrigan," Riona sighed despondently. "Why is it so hard for some people to accept that two women can simply be close friends? Anyway, enough of this nonsense, I am tired of repeating myself... it seems as if we have a new adventure to plan, don't we, little sister?"

"It certainly seems so," Bethany nodded, sitting down on the bed by Josie's side, Riona perching down at the foot of the bed. "I wasn't certain you would want to be involved, though. Does it mean that Morrigan agreed to look after Malcolm as well?"

"She did, yes," Riona nodded, wincing when she saw Bethany and Josephine exchanging meaningful winks. "Well, she owes me for all those times I've been babysitting little Keira when Morrigan simply wanted to leave for a day or two to clear her head."

"How is my little nephew doing?" Bethany asked with a fond smile on her face. "And for that matter, how is Keira?"

"Oh, they're both more than fine," Riona chuckled. "Already starting to drive Morrigan and I crazy. Maker only knows the trouble they'll get up to once they grow older. Then again, Morrigan is certainly watching her daughter much more closely than I'm watching Mal. She's still paranoid about Flemeth swooping in to either possess her or steal her baby."

"I can't really blame her, it is a frightening shadow to live under," Bethany sighed.

"I truly miss seeing the children," Josephine sighed. "Bethany, we must make sure to take another trip to Kirkwall as soon as we are able."

"Agreed," Bethany nodded. "I want to meet the little rascals as well, and also catch up with Aveline, Charade, Varric and Lace... speaking of which, are you still forcing Varric to hide, Ri?"

"I'm not forcing him to do anything," Riona huffed defensively. "To hide after publishing that ridiculous book was his own decision, I don't see how I can be blamed for his actions."

"I'm sure that the threats to his life that both you and Morrigan made had nothing to do with it," Bethany rolled her eyes. "I honestly don't care so much about you threatening Varric, I just mostly feel bad for Lace. I mean, she must be missing her husband."

"Pfft, I'm pretty sure they've found a way to regularly see each other," Riona shrugged. "But I guess I'll think about what you said, Beth. Anyway, shouldn't we be discussing this adventure ahead of us? I could barely believe the words in your letter, sis. After two years of silence, Merrill has finally remembered her promise to stay in touch and is reaching out to us? And her invitation is to send us a key to an ancient temple to Fen'Harel all the way on the other end of Thedas? What a typical Merrill thing to do."

"Isn't it just," Bethany sighed. "But yes, if we agree to do this, we will be traveling all the way to the Forbidden Oasis."

"Can we afford not to react, though?" Josephine asked worriedly. "I mean... the message sounded very urgent and serious. And even though I don't know Merrill as well as you do, I don't think she's the type to exaggerate seriousness of whatever danger it is that threatens Thedas."

"I quite agree," Riona nodded. "Josie, are you alright with Beth and me leaving off on this adventure? After all, who knows how long it might take? Also, considering that it's Merrill..."

"Oh... oh! I, umm, hadn't honestly thought about that," Josephine blushed, a reliable indication that she was not being exactly truthful. "Alright, perhaps I have been thinking about it, but... if Bethany wanted to be with Merrill, she would have simply chosen Merrill. Instead, she chose me and I have no logical reason to fear that she should change her mind now."

"Fear is not always logical, but on this occasion you really have no reason to fear, because I love you, Josie," Bethany spoke softly, leaning closer to kiss her beloved firmly on the lips. "And I always **will** love you."

"I know," Josephine whispered back at her. "All the same, I probably would feel far more nervous if Riona wasn't going with you. Now... now I don't feel too bad about it. And I think you could use a little break from certain tensions at the household here..."

"Oh," Riona's eyebrows rose at that. "Problems with your mother, Josie?"

"You could say that," Bethany sighed. "I doubt I'll endear myself to her any further by abandoning you for several months, though. Maybe she'll start hoping that I have abandoned you for good or something equally ridiculous. Not that you should worry, Josie... I'm always coming back to you."

"And don't you forget that," Josephine smiled. "I hope they won't miss you too much at the Arcane University."

"I should be entitled to some time off from my duties, and we have plenty of capable instructors who can replace me on temporary basis," Bethany replied. "I just need to inform Divine Victoria about my absence. Of course, this absence could be far shorter, if only my sister here would teach me the spell that Morrigan has taught her, the way to transform yourself into a raven form."

"Mhm... tempting, very tempting to cut down on that travel time," Riona mused, looking rather conflicted. "However, I did make a promise to Morrigan not to share this knowledge without her permission, and it's not a promise I am willing to break, so... sorry, Beth."

"You really seem to care a lot about Morrigan and what she might think, sister," Bethany pointed out with a grin on her lips. "Once again, I'm starting to think that Varric didn't conjure everything in that book from thin air, and there just might be some truth behind it all."

"Right, you keep mentioning that bloody book, and I'm definitely not teaching you anything," Riona huffed.

"Oh well..." Bethany sighed. "I guess we're going to take the long route then. I'll book passage for Val Royeaux first thing tomorrow. Until the ship departs, I guess you'll be staying and enjoying the Antivan hospitality with us, Ri..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _Solasan, Forbidden Oasis_

Roughly three weeks after their departure from Antiva City, the exhausted and parched Hawke siblings finally reached the remote oasis in the southwestern desert region of Orlais, the two sisters having rented horses in the capital of Orlais at an exorbitant fee. With the Forbidden Oasis now splayed out before them, Riona was left to remark how it looked the same when she had last been here two years ago, nothing really changing in the desert save for the shape of the massive sand dunes making their journey an exercise in frustration. At least Riona was relieved to note that this time the oasis had not become home to some thirsty giant, the greatest danger amongst the rich wildlife of oasis being a pack of hyenas, but they dispersed and fled at the very sight of the two sisters flashing their magic, not even having to launch a spell against the cowardly scavengers.

With Bethany not having made the journey to the oasis two years ago, Riona took the lead in guiding her sister through the narrow passes cutting between the cliffs, through the natural caves that had been artificially widened by the Envers Mining Company during their disastrous stay in the region, the caverns eventually leading them out at the majestic entrance into the temple complex, carved into the cliff face. Riona immediately noticed that someone had placed all the respective smaller shards into their allocated slots, leaving only the place for the master shard vacant, just like on their previous visit to the temple. This time, however, their progress was not impeded as Bethany retrieved the master shard from her backpack before passing it over to Riona, who without any delay slipped it into the central slot, causing all the shards to start glowing with soothing green light, like the Veilfire.

"Well... the good news is that it appears to be working," Riona remarked, watching the ancient gate slowly starting to part, inch by inch, showering them with dust and rubble, forcing them to step aside as the doorway clearly hadn't been used for many ages.

"That's excellent, though I'm a little concerned about Merrill," Bethany sighed. "We haven't seen any sign of her so far. Besides, how would she even know about our arrival? Were we supposed to assume that she would be waiting for us for weeks in the desert?"

"Well, clearly someone has placed the other shards into the gate, so... I'm guessing that would have been Merrill's work," Riona remarked, watching as the gate slid open wide enough to let her squeeze through, though she wisely decided not to rush and wait for the doorway to open fully, revealing a passageway illuminated by lit Veilfire torches.

"I suppose," Bethany admitted. "Shall we go and explore without her?" she wondered, also looking down the opened passageway.

"I think we should," Riona nodded decisively. "Who knows where she is now or when she'll be able to join us? All in all, I have to say that this is an extremely odd place of meeting," the older of the siblings stated, stepping inside the temple, then pausing as she felt a strange sensation washing over her, the palpable presence of ancient and powerful magic, but at least it did not appear malevolent. "Did you feel that?" she asked of her sister, Bethany also entering to stand by her side.

"I did," Bethany replied quietly. "Something powerful must be resting within. Or perhaps had once rested, and we can still feel its lingering echoes."

"Let's proceed," Riona whispered, trying to brush her nervousness aside as she ignited the Veilfire at the tip of her staff, more out of habit than necessity with the passageway already being well illuminated. Having walked some ten yards down the corridor, the pair stopped when new passages opened up to both left and right, while the main passageway continued forward to lead up to an opened stone doorway, emptying into what at the first glance appeared to be a large central hall of the complex.

"Where to now?" Bethany asked uncertainly.

"We'll start at the center, and explore the side passages later if need be," Riona decided, walking a little ahead, but Bethany caught up with her immediately, feeling safer when exploring side by side.

"If this really is a temple, it's a very strange one," Bethany remarked, looking around as they walked towards the central hall.

"Why do you say that, Beth?" Riona asked, more focused on detecting any threats than examining the layout and architecture of the place.

"Notice the lack of any decorations," Bethany replied, Riona immediately realizing that her sister was entirely correct. "I'm not suggesting that Merrill was wrong about this being a temple of Fen'Harel, but... if Solasan truly is a temple, then it almost feels as if Fen'Harel did not want to be worshipped, because there is nothing here that aggrandizes him."

"An interesting point," Riona nodded, the pair finally reaching the doorway into the central hall, Riona carefully probing ahead through the door with her staff for any potential traps, then stepping through when the passage appeared safe.

The central hall itself appeared quite unremarkable and almost as lacking in decorations as the passageway leading up to it. The only items of interest stood at the far end of the hall, a large dais and a pair of large steles with ancient elven script, propped against the wall behind the dais. On the dais, there stood what Riona at first assumed to be a large stone altar, but upon closer examination, it appeared more like a sarcophagus. However, it stood completely empty, in fact, there was no sign of any bones ever having rested inside, and the layer of dust inside seemed much thinner than anywhere else in the ancient temple.

"I hope Merrill gets here soon," Bethany spoke quietly, looking at the large steles with elven texts. "I can't make heads or tails out of this. Though that one inscription looks familiar... I think it's the same one we saw on the gate outside the temple."

"Come not to a Prideful Place," Riona intoned grimly. "This is all very strange. I mean, there's nothing here! Why did Merrill want us to come here?"

"I wish I had an answer to that, but hopefully Merrill will have them," Bethany shrugged her shoulders, then almost jumping a little as she suddenly spotted a shadow appearing on the floor and nearing them. "Careful!" she warned, the two siblings turning around to regard a figure that had stepped out from a small alcove nearby, approaching them quietly.

The woman before them wore a heavy cowl obscuring her face, dressed in an armor that reminded them of the ancient elven protectors they had encountered in the temple of Mythal. While the green-tinged leggings and the breastplate glistened with metallic sheen, at the same time the sentinel armor appeared light and flexible, allowing the woman to move gracefully and silently, almost catching them by surprise.

"Merrill?" Riona ventured a guess. While it seemed only logical that this woman before them could only be Merrill, for some reason the woman's posture did not match their shy and hesitant elven friend, this stranger radiating confidence and strength. "Merrill, is that you?"

"At last, you've arrived," the woman replied, sounding... mostly like Merrill, but the usual hesitation and small stutter from her voice was gone. "Good. That means we can finally begin."

"Begin what?" Bethany asked, eyeing Merrill with some uncertainty. "Merrill, why did you even have us come all this way? For what purpose?"

"Do you remember the elven legend I always loved to tell you, the one about Fen'Harel and the Creators?" Merrill asked, keeping the cowl in place to cover her face.

"About Fen'Harel imprisoning the Creators and the Forgotten Ones?" Bethany asked, Merrill nodding slowly. "Of course, we remember."

"Then you must also remember what Fen'Harel did after he had imprisoned the other gods," Merrill intoned.

"As I seem to recall, he fell into a deep slumber, or something like that?" Riona guessed.

"You remember well," Merrill nodded. "The question is... where did Fen'Harel go to sleep through the ages?"

"Uh... we don't know?" Riona shrugged.

"Let me guess..." Bethany gasped. "Here? This... this is where Fen'Harel slept?" Merrill did not reply, merely nodding minutely at that. "But he's not here now. Where is he? When did he awoke? Do you know where he went?" Bethany burst forth with a litany of questions.

"That is something I have been trying to discover ever since leaving Skyhold," Merrill replied.

"You and Solas both disappeared at the same time," Riona remarked. "Did you leave together? Do you know where he is now?"

"That is not at all relevant to the crisis we are facing," Merrill spoke. "It is possible that Solas will help us, but it is difficult to know for certain. He acts only when he feels it is necessary, and shares only what he believes should be shared. I'm sure you know that much about him."

"But surely you have learned more if you've been traveling with him?" Bethany asked, surprised at Merrill's evasiveness. "Who is Solas? Where did he come from? What are his motivations?"

"I don't have all the answers, nor do I have the time to stand here and share what little I have learned about Solas," Merrill shook her head sternly. "We have more important things to do. It is possible that we will encounter Solas at some point. Perhaps he will care to answer your questions."

Riona let out a deep sigh, exchanging a slightly puzzled stare with her sister. "So, what is this crisis we are facing, Merrill?" she finally decided to ask.

"I need your help to stop something terrible from happening," Merrill said. "The eluvian network has been... infiltrated, by someone who shouldn't be there. Someone dangerous."

"Who? Who has infiltrated the eluvian network?" Bethany asked, sounding both frustrated and worried.

"The qunari," Merrill replied, making both Hawke sisters blink in surprise. "I don't know why. I don't know their plans or their motivations, but I have seen them moving around the eluvian network in large numbers, carrying barrels of their explosives, gaatlok. I'm sure you can understand why this would be worrying. I decided to ask for your help, for I cannot stop them all by myself."

"That is... shocking, and alarming," Riona nodded in agreement. "With the qunari aversion to magic, I wouldn't expect them to use the eluvians, but if they have taken over the network, this could spell great danger for the rest of Thedas. You were right to contact us, Merrill, and now I see that you have not exaggerated the danger we are facing."

"Still, why did you want to meet us here, Merrill?" Bethany asked, looking confused. "We lost so much valuable time coming here, and... how would we even enter the eluvian network from here?"

"Don't worry, I have thought of that," Merrill spoke calmly. "But before we proceed, there is something else I must reveal to you so that it doesn't come as a shock later. You must be wondering about the cowl." Both Hawke sisters instantly nodded at that, Merrill raising her hands and pushing the cowl to slide away and reveal herself, Bethany and Riona both gasping aloud when they took in the sight of Merrill's face. Without the vallaslin covering it, the elf looked like an entirely different person than the friend they knew.

"Your vallaslin, Merrill!" Bethany exclaimed. "What happened to it?"

"During my quest for knowledge, I learned something about it that shocked me," Merrill explained with a serene look on her face. "The vallaslin is more than just the intricate facial tattoos that the Dalish believe them to be. No, in the time of ancient Arlathan, these tattoos served as slave markings, a sign of ownership when elven nobles enslaved those less fortunate. These markings were representations of the gods that these slave owners favored. And when I was presented with an opportunity to forever erase my vallaslin, with this new knowledge in mind I immediately decided to do so."

"That is fascinating," Riona exclaimed. "Maker, if the Dalish only knew what the vallaslin actually means! Have you shared it with them already, Merrill?" she asked, but Merrill shook her head in denial.

"Did it hurt to have it removed?" Bethany asked, busy studying Merrill's face while at the same time hoping that she wasn't too obvious about it. It seemed as if more had changed about her former lover's features, not only the lack of vallaslin. The wide, green eyes full of innocence and wonderment had clearly changed, appearing slightly more slanted, while the innocence had faded, replaced with certain almost harsh sharpness. At the same time, Bethany could not deny that this slightly changed, more confident and mysterious Merrill, her face clear from the blood writing, appeared very attractive, much as she did not want to think such thoughts, having already made peace with the decision that whatever they once had shared was now left in the past.

"It tickled," Merrill smiled faintly at her. "But now we should really find the eluvian and get on with our task. I hope the two of you are ready."

"That's why we're here, to help you deal with whatever the task might be," Bethany said, then looking around the central hall. "Still, I don't see the eluvian."

"Well, you can't see it yet," Merrill said, walking up to the wall of the central hall next to the alcove from which she had emerged, tugging on a barely visible lever to force a section of the wall to part, revealing behind it a large mirror with dark matted surface, an inactive eluvian.

"Ah," Riona clicked her tongue. "I imagine you know how to activate it."

"That would appear to be a safe assumption," Merrill nodded, walking up to the mirror and raising her hand, a faint glow of green energy forming at the tips of her fingers before she channeled it into the eluvian, making the surface of the mirror start to glow and shimmer, activating the ancient gateway.

"That... that looks almost like the magic of the Anchor!" Bethany exclaimed, looking on as Merrill continued to channel the magical energies into the eluvian until its entire surface was glowing, activating it fully. "When did you learn how to use it, Merrill?" she asked once Merrill had finished activating the eluvian.

"I learned it by not sitting idly these two years," their elven friend replied evasively, gesturing towards the active eluvian. "Shall we? Who knows what the qunari might do while we stand around talking!"

Riona and Bethany exchanged confused glances at that, before Bethany turned back towards Merrill with an accepting smile. "Very well, Merrill," she said, nodding at the eluvian. "Lead the way."

* * *

 _The Crossroads_

"Where are we?" was Bethany's first question immediately after passing through the eluvian and emerging on the other side, a strange place of stone walkways connecting small islands of rock, floating high above nothingness on the bed of puffy white clouds that reduced the overall visibility and didn't allow them to gauge the enormity of their surroundings. A waterfall crashed down from somewhere high above, hidden in the clouds, streams of water hitting the stone floor next to where they had emerged from the eluvian, water collecting into a small pool before being carried by another stream to fall onto the rocky plateaus below. There was little vegetation to speak of, save for a few gnarly trees with strange crimson leaves, sprouting from the stony ground where they had no right to grow.

"This reminds me of the Crossroads," Riona mused thoughtfully. "We passed a similar looking place when fleeing from the temple of Mythal back to Skyhold."

"You're right, Riona, this is the Crossroads... and it has been infiltrated by the qunari," Merrill said in a stern voice. "I did not mind sharing the network with agents of Briala, and the empress, but the qunari have slaughtered some of them, and driven the rest out. The qunari need to be dealt with."

"You'll get no objections from me, but where would we look for them?" Bethany asked, then pointing at another eluvian on a smaller rock island just ahead and a little below them, convenient stone walkway leading up to it. "How about we try that eluvian?"

"Unfortunately, it is inactive, and I have yet to figure out how to activate it," Merrill shrugged. "Still, there are other active eluvians we could try. I would suggest the ones I have actually observed the qunari using," she said while pointing to their right, where another walkway led upwards to a larger plateau upon which some sort of ancient elven structure seemed to have awkwardly stuck within the rock, its normal doorways replaced with several eluvians out of which one glowed with a soothing blue light.

"I guess this would be the one to take then?" Riona asked, earning a swift nod from an impatient looking Merrill, the elf not wasting any time in approaching the activated eluvian and waving for the two sisters to follow, just as she herself plunged straight through the glowing surface of the ancient mirror.

"Seems like we have no choice but to follow," Bethany shrugged, exchanging brief glances with her sister.

"I suppose so," Riona nodded. "Tell you what, Beth... if it wasn't Merrill leading us, I would stop to demand an explanation of just what is going on here, and what has happened to her over these past two years, but... since it **is** Merrill, I guess we could just place our trust in her and go along with whatever she's proposing... at least for now."

"No matter what has happened with Merrill, she would never mean us any harm," Bethany said with certainty, walking up to the eluvian. "I will always believe that, so... I am willing to follow her for as long as necessary, and hope that in the end we will have some answers."

"I can go along with that," Riona agreed, following her sister through the eluvian and moments later finding herself on the other side, a location very different from the dull and colorless Crossroads. Instead, they found themselves in a wide corridor of some sort of a fortress, brightly burning torches at the walls illuminating their way, showing a tall stairway ahead, eventually emerging into daylight.

"Is this still the Crossroads, only different part of it?" Bethany asked, looking at Merrill who had gone a little ahead of them, the elf standing silent with her hand placed against the stone wall, almost as if communing with it. "Or are we back on Thedas?"

"I am... uncertain," Merrill eventually admitted. "If we are back on Thedas, then definitely far from Orlais."

"I guess we should go and see, yes?" Riona pointed at the stairway, leading upwards and out of the passage, the architecture of it reminiscent of some of the elven ruins they had explored in the past. Nothing could have prepared the pair for the view that awaited them, however, leaving the two Hawke sisters standing stunned with their mouths agape, and even Merrill appeared taken aback by the sight.

The first thing they immediately noticed was that they had emerged from some sort of a tall elven tower, covered with thick vines, offering them an excellent view of their surroundings, also revealing an active eluvian just ahead of them, down a flight of stairs from the platform they had emerged onto. Before them, at the bottom of a mountain valley, there loomed a small but exceptionally beautiful lake, its waters turquoise blue. At the very center of the lake, there was an island, upon which a massive elven structure rested, the ancient fortress appearing fairly well-preserved. A stone bridge had once connected the fortress to the lakeshore, but sections of the bridge had collapsed rendering it obsolete and leaving the trio hoping that the eluvian would end up taking them across to the island in the lake. The land around them looked unrecognizable, the pristine blue and cloudless sky allowing them to gaze for many miles in every direction, but everything they could see were countless mountain peaks, rising and falling, covered with lush green grass, but barely any trees. Several tall and elegant elven signal towers rose high atop of the mountain ranges, beautifully preserved relics of a bygone age, injecting a sense of surrealism about the scene from which any presence of active civilization seemed to have faded a long time ago.

"This is... where are we?" Riona blinked, then rubbing her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming. "Could this really be Thedas? This doesn't look like any place I know... perhaps slightly reminiscent of Ferelden? But we know this can't be Ferelden."

"There are many parts of Thedas that have never been explored by our contemporaries," Bethany reminded her sister. "And perhaps it doesn't even matter where we are. What matters is what we must do here."

"Well said," Merrill nodded next to them, looking a little uncertain for a moment, but the feeling passed quickly and the strange, newfound confidence swiftly reappeared in her posture. "The eluvian is our only option of leaving this tower," she said firmly. "Let's not waste any more time."

"Wait a moment," Riona spoke up as they were partway down the stairs, pointing at what looked like collapsed statues at the bottom of the stairs, but upon closer inspection turned out to be petrified corpses of three qunari warriors. "Now what happened here? I see scorch marks," she said, pointing at the corpses, covered in places with dark patches.

"Work of a mage," Bethany nodded. "Someone else appears to be opposing these qunari."

"It would appear so," Merrill agreed, looking eager to enter the next eluvian and move onwards.

"Could this be the work of Solas, helping us?" Bethany asked, looking inquisitively at Merrill. "You said that he might help us, and I remember him using a spell like this once before, petrifying those mages who corrupted his spirit friend in the Exalted Plains."

"It is not impossible," Merrill shrugged, trying to appear indifferent. "It might be him, but we should not rely on his assistance. Solas might have an agenda of his own. Or he might decide to test us by allowing us to fight our own battles."

"So, he could decide to be the good old Solas we know and love," Bethany chuckled at herself, shaking her head.

"Indeed," Merrill smiled, but the smile faded quickly as she walked up to the eluvian and entered it, leaving the two sisters with nothing else to do than to quickly follow. The eluvian led them out onto yet another elven tower, this one much closer to the lake fortress, standing on the very lakeside and dipping into the beautiful turquoise water. Climbing down the stairs from the top platform with the eluvian they had just emerged from, they could see three stairways before them, those off to the sides both leading down to two more eluvians out of which one was smashed to pieces while the other appeared active and functional. The stairway continuing straight, however, led down to a small dais with something that vaguely looked like a sundial upon it. Something had been removed from the device, however, likely very recently, leaving behind a small hole into which something clearly was meant to be slotted. Past the dais, the stairway led further down and onto the stone bridge that had originally connected the tower with the lake fortress, if not for the gap in the bridge that at a distance had appeared like the result of destruction, but at closer inspection appeared to have been constructed like a magically controlled drawbridge.

"I bet that strange sundial-looking thing has something to do with extending the bridge," Riona mused thoughtfully, Bethany nodding in agreement.

"It seems to be missing something, a part of its mechanism," Bethany said, turning towards Merrill. "However, if we cannot find it, then... how would we get across?"

"Whatever we need to find will be behind that eluvian," Merrill replied confidently, pointing to the single unexplored eluvian to their left. "I am certain of it."

Bethany merely raised an eyebrow at that, turning to look at Riona, but finding her sister staring across the bridge towards the lake fortress, her brow furrowed in concentration. "I just saw a group of qunari entering the fortress," Riona said a moment later. "And I can see other groups patrolling the island... it looks like they are there in great numbers, while we are but three mages. This is going to be very difficult unless Solas decides to aid us."

"You worry too much, Riona," Merrill smiled mysteriously, stepping away and running up the stairs to then descend down the other passage towards the eluvian, leaving the two siblings to exchange more confused glances before turning to follow their friend.

"I think Merrill has definitely been hanging out with Solas," Riona frowned. "She acts and even sounds like him."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Bethany whispered back as they both rushed to catch up with their secretive friend.

The next eluvian led them out onto yet another similar guard tower, higher up in the lush valley, stairway leading upwards from the small platform they had emerged on, the top of the stairs barricaded with stacked up bags of rubble, leaving only a tiny gap for the trio to squeeze through and emerge on the central platform surrounding the base of the tower. Before they could take another step towards the tower, however, several shadowy figures coalesced out of thin air in front of them, forming into ghostly figures of ancient elven guardians, threateningly stepping into their path. " _Atish'all vallem, Fen'Harel elathadra_ ," the lead guardian whispered in a ghostly, otherworldly voice. " _Nuvenas mana helanin, dirth bellasa ma_."

"What does it want?" Riona whispered, together with Bethany giving Merrill an expectant stare.

" _Ar-melana, dirthhavaren. Revas Vir-Anaris_ ," Merrill replied without a moment of hesitation.

" _Amae lethalas_ ," the guardian spirits all bowed before them and stepped aside, before winking out of sight and dissolving back into the shadows.

"What did you tell them, Merrill?" Bethany asked. "I noticed that the spirit invoked Fen'Harel's name..."

"It was a part of a ritual I read about during my studies of ancient knowledge," Merrill explained as they slowly proceeded forward. "A secret greeting amongst those Fen'Harel trusted."

"But why did Fen'Harel's name even come up?" Riona asked. "What does he have to do with anything that is happening here?"

"I have never been here, remember?" Merrill smiled as she turned towards the elder of the siblings. "But I presume that we will find out shortly."

"I'm starting to get this feeling that this is some kind of a ridiculous test, and actually not even about the qunari threat," Riona grumbled at Merrill's continued evasiveness, Bethany nodding in agreement as they both tried to keep up with their elven friend, walking around the base of the tower, but finding only eluvians, smashed and destroyed beyond repair.

"What now, Merrill?" Bethany asked.

"You are more right than you know, Riona," Merrill replied as she walked up to a large and beautiful elven mosaic, decorating one of the tower's walls, depicting some sort of a decorative tree. "Someone is definitely being tested, but that someone isn't you," she chuckled, sounding amused as the green glow of magic appeared at her fingertips before she directed the channeled spell at the mosaic. "I understand your frustration and uncertainty... and I will make sure to share what knowledge I can decipher during our journeys... starting from now on," the elven mage spoke as the mosaic began to break apart, peeling away from the wall and revealing itself to be a mere illusion, as at the same time, a wash of powerful magic slammed into all three of them, carrying with it an oddly welcoming impression. Images flashed before Bethany's eyes, showing her groups of elven slaves flocking to this place in ancient times, being greeted by others who then proceeded to tend to their wounds.

"What was that?" Bethany gasped as the vision cleared from her mind.

"Fen'Harel bids you welcome," Merrill recanted, putting the sensations they all had felt into words. "Rest, knowing the Dread Wolf guards you and his people guard this valley. In this place, you are free. In trusting us, you will never be bound again."

"Some sort of refuge for the elven slaves?" Riona wondered. "Under the protection of Fen'Harel? Yet again, he seems to be tied to everything."

"This whole valley was a sanctuary created by Fen'Harel," Merrill nodded, pointing at where the illusion mosaic had faded, revealing entrance into the heart of the tower, and access to yet another eluvian. "I assume you wish to learn more," she smiled at the eager nods of the two sisters, then walking up to the newly uncovered eluvian. "In that case... let us push further into the sanctuary of the Dread Wolf."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 _Silent Tower, Elven Mountain Ruins_

The eluvian they entered took them only a short distance to yet another tower on the opposite side of the valley lake, this ancient elven structure having suffered major devastation which forced them to scramble around great heaps of rubble while ascending the stairways leading up to the top of the tower. The mountain landscape surrounding them appeared never changing, so placid and beautiful that it almost felt surreal and out of some sort of a fairy tale, not a single breeze of wind down here in the valley. As the small group of three advanced up the stairs, Bethany could not help but notice that the walls of this tower were in places decorated with drawings that were oddly like the frescoes that Solas had created in his rotunda chamber at Skyhold.

More of the ghostly elven spirit wardens awaited them on the upper level of the tower, but they faded almost instantly upon their arrival, parting with a farewell uttered in ancient Elvish, leaving behind a group of dead qunari invaders, their corpses scattered about the place. "Well, these haven't been killed by magic, unlike the previous group," Riona stated after a brief study of the bodies.

"I assume they did not know the ritual words to placate the wardens with," Merrill shrugged. "I suppose it's a good thing I know the verses, or this would have been our fate as well."

"It certainly was helpful," Bethany nodded as together they began to explore the upper platform, but instead of an eluvian coming across yet another beautiful elven mosaic decorating one of the walls. "Do you think this one could be hiding something as well?" Bethany asked their elven friend.

"Let's find out... brace yourselves," Merrill raised her glowing hand, just like the Inquisitor had done years ago when closing a Fade rift, the magic bursting forth and striking the mosaic, causing it to dissipate in rays of colorful dust as a wash of powerful magic struck the three mages, carrying with it a palpable blossom of hope. Bethany was briefly blinded by the bright light, forcing her to close her eyes and experience yet another brief vision, this time of a figure clad in a particularly impressive variation of the sentinel armor, adorned with beautiful wolf skins, standing with a group of freed slaves and clasping one's arm in a gesture of friendship.

"Was that... did we just see Fen'Harel?" Riona asked, having recovered from experiencing the vision.

"Yes, I believe so," Merrill said, then giving voice to the words they had all felt but struggled to put together in coherent thoughts or sentences. "Fen'Harel has been falsely named a god, but is as mortal as any of you. He takes no divine mantle, and asks that none be bestowed upon him. He leads only those who would help willingly. Let none be beholden but by choice."

"I appreciate his humility of not wanting to be raised up as a god, but... at the same time, he possessed power much greater than the average elf," Riona said, frowning a little as she mulled on this new discovery. "Also, he has survived from the age of Arlathan to this day, and continues to be a presence in our world. He might not want to be considered a god, but I don't think he is a mere mortal, at least not anymore."

"I think you are right about that, Riona," Merrill smiled at the older of the sisters, before gesturing to the dark opening that had appeared behind the destroyed mosaic. "Would you look at that... instead of an eluvian, we have ourselves a ruin to explore," she nodded at the dark stairway leading deep into the bowels of the tower, the two Hawke sisters immediately summoning the Veilfire to light their way.

The spiraling stairway seemed to go on and on, and after a while Bethany and Riona decided to extinguish their Veilfire as someone had lit the wall sconces down to the very bottom of the staircase, illuminating the smooth stone walls of the elven ruin, revealing that they were covered with the by now already familiar drawings. It took them a while to reach a larger square at the bottom of the stairway, the group looking around for an exit only to discover yet another mosaic, blocking the sole passage further into the ruin. By now Merrill already knew what to do, using her newfound magic to shatter the mosaic and allowing more ancient and forgotten knowledge to wash over them and settle in their consciousness. This time, however, the powerful magic did not carry a spark of hope, but instead stung them with a sensation of bitter fury. Bethany let out a gasp as she took in the image of imposing robed figures, the ancient elven archmages, enslaving tens of thousands while shouting arrogant proclamations of godhood at the skies.

"The gods, our Evanuris, claim divinity, yet they are naught but mortals powerful in magic who can die as you can," Merrill intoned gravely. "In this place, we teach those who join us to unravel their lies."

"Of course, if Fen'Harel did not consider himself a god, then he would not have considered the Creators to be gods either," Riona nodded in understanding. "I don't know whether I agree. Both Fen'Harel and these Evanuris possessed great power, and I think by my own measuring stick I would see them all as divinities, or at least something greater than mere mortals."

"I agree, but at the same time I believe I know why Fen'Harel wanted to cast down these preconceptions of the Evanuris as gods," Bethany replied. "When you think of someone as a god, you immediately assume subservience to them, and provide them an opportunity to do horrible, unspeakable things to those who consider themselves lesser beings. And judging by the vision, these Evanuris did just that, enslaving the population who did not believe they had the right to oppose this will of the 'gods'. Gods such as these needed to be cast down... I agree with Fen'Harel's reasoning here."

"I knew you would understand, Bethany," Merrill smiled softly at her former lover, Bethany feeling her cheeks grow a little warm at the glimpse of the old, sweet Merrill in this undeniably changed elven mage, who was still somehow highly captivating in her own right. "Let's investigate further," the elf then said, leading the two sisters into a darkened chamber behind the mosaic, Veilfire quickly springing to life to reveal a small dais at the back of the chamber, upon which stood a square shaped stone altar, a small figurine placed atop of the altar.

"Interesting," Riona muttered as she watched Merrill step forward and pick up the small glowing figurine, depicting a wolf sitting on its haunches and howling up at the sky. "I'm willing to bet an arm and a leg that this is going to slot right into that pedestal by the bridge."

"And something tells me that I would end up an arm and a leg short, should I accept that bet," Merrill grinned.

"It's just strange that the key would be so conveniently waiting for us down here, and that you would have all the right tools at your disposal to reach it, Merrill," Bethany remarked as they made their way back to the broken bridge. "It really feels as if someone is testing us... leading us on a predetermined path while imparting this prepared knowledge upon us."

"Yes, but who would do such a thing?" Riona wondered. "I bet it's Solas. Or maybe it's Fen'Harel, himself? What do you think, Merrill?" she turned towards their guide in this strange and confusing place.

"I agree," Merrill nodded thoughtfully. "It has to be one of them behind it," she added in a way that shut down any further discussion by the time they reached the pedestal at the bridge, where the small wolf figurine conveniently slipped into its place and triggered an ancient mechanism. Moments later, the three mages were almost knocked off their feet by a sudden shake seizing the bridge, an entire section of it suddenly rising from below the waters of the lake and slotting into the gap that had previously rendered the bridge unusable. With the bridge now operational, the three mages quickly shook themselves and then rushed across towards the island at the center of the lake, and the qunari swarming it in worrying numbers.

They had almost made it all the way across, when a patrolling group of five qunari spotted them, shouting as they charged at the three mages. "I'll go first with the barrier, then Riona, then you Merrill," Bethany uttered quickly, upset at herself for not having arranged this sooner.

"Very well," Merrill nodded with a smile as a blast of red energy sprang from the tip of her staff and exploded amidst the qunari patrol, rendering them all paralyzed, blood leaking from their every pore, like the powerful blood magic spell Merrill sometimes used as the last resort... only here she had used it with barely any effort, and without having to cut herself to power her magic. Furthermore, while the qunari still struggled to break free from the paralysis, thick blood red vines sprang from the very ground and wrapped around their victims with astonishing speed, the tentacle like growths wrapping around the qunari throats and quickly choking and draining them of blood as the sharp needles pierced their thick skin, eventually severing arteries and killing their victims in short order.

"Or maybe we won't need the barriers after all," Riona blinked, looking at the devastation Merrill had wrought with a single spell.

"Of course, we will," Merrill grinned with just a tinge of smugness to her smile. "My magic has grown, yes, but I can't just fling these spells around at will."

"Still, maybe we can just have me and Riona focus on the barriers, while you let loose with... whatever this magic even is," Bethany managed, giving Merrill a look that was slightly concerned, but also rather impressed and fascinated.

"That suits me just fine," Merrill gladly nodded at them.

"Look at that," Riona spoke suddenly, pointing at several large, almost spherical urns, carefully placed on the ground by the bridge. "I recognize those from Kirkwall. Blackpowder urns. Nasty stuff... I wonder what the qunari are bringing them here for."

"Nothing good, would be my guess," Bethany sighed. "This means we should be careful with fire magic from now on. We don't want to hit a pile of blackpowder urns and blow ourselves and everything else within a mile sky high."

"That seems like a good idea," Riona nodded, then glancing at the five extremely bloody qunari corpses, the blood vines of Merrill's spell nearly having severed their heads from their thick, corded necks. "I wonder if we have time to search the bodies for clues... any hints to their purpose here would be very helpful."

"Go for it, Ri," Bethany spoke, having exchanged stares with Merrill, then running after her sister to also partake in the grim ritual of body looting.

"Got something here," Riona spoke, having retrieved a bloodied note from the body of a fallen warrior, armed with a massive throwing spear. "Bah, it's in Qunlat, fat chance of deciphering that," she cursed, about to throw the note away, but then blinking and holding on to it. "No, wait... the second part is in common tongue. Why would they include that, I wonder?"

"Because they have a lot of elven and human agents in the South who don't speak Qunlat, I guess?" Bethany shrugged. "Anyway, what does it say?"

"Ten more in today. No one saw me. If more instructions, please use second drop point. More people on the grounds soon, and it has better cover," Riona read, scratching the top of her head in confusion once she was done. "That doesn't tell me anything."

"Not really, no," Bethany agreed, also unable to make heads or tails of the cryptic message, but any further search of the bodies was interrupted by Merrill walking up to them.

"I hear sounds of battle from inside the fortress," she spoke urgently, pointing at the ancient elven structure looming large in front of them. "We should hurry."

"Yes, let's hurry," Bethany agreed, together with Riona rushing to follow their elven friend. "Maybe it's Solas?"

As soon as they entered the massive, open halls of the forgotten sanctuary, however, they could see that it was not Solas fighting the qunari invaders, but instead a group of the deadly elven spirit guardians, locked in battle with those who dared to despoil their ancestral home. It appeared that the spirit guardians themselves were not invulnerable, for several dissipated before their very own eyes under the onslaught of qunari axes, but the three mages would not stand watching it idly any longer, Riona disabling the qunari with her force magic while Bethany provided arcane protection for them all, and then it was Merrill's turn to unleash her magic at the enemy, mowing down the qunari forces with a strange and frightening looking chain lightning, crackling tendrils of the darkest black instead of glowing bright purple. With the qunari forces routed, the remaining spirit guardians bowed their ghostly heads at them before dissolving into thin air and retreating to their slumber now that the invaders had been defeated.

"I don't think this was a fortress... at least not in the sense how we understand it," Bethany remarked as they walked through the wide halls unopposed, able to take in the sights around them. "Everything here is designed to accommodate as many people as possible."

"Yes, this is a sanctuary, not a fortress," Riona agreed, pointing towards the walls of the great hall, where countless beds had been stacked next to each other to provide comfortable sleeping berths for all those who had chosen to seek protection in this place. "This might have once sheltered hundreds of freed slaves, if not more. It seems as if Fen'Harel's message was finding ears eager to hear it."

"And yet, it probably was not enough, because he later decided to deal with the Evanuris or the Creators in a more permanent way," Bethany mused. "I suppose if they were all to unite against him as the common threat, the Dread Wolf's rebellion would have proved very short-lived."

"I am sadly forced to agree," Merrill nodded, walking a little ahead of the two siblings as they came closer and closer to the far end of the grand sanctuary.

"Perhaps you should have invited the Iron Bull to join us as well, Merrill," Bethany spoke thoughtfully. "He might have been able to tell us why the qunari would do something like this, infiltrating the Crossroads. It's just something I wouldn't expect from those haters of all things magical. And I don't think this is a random group of Tal-Vashoth, either. This looks like a well-organized operation, so who knows... maybe this comes from the Arishok himself."

"I don't need more reminders that I should have just killed him when I had the chance," Riona ground out angrily.

"Nobody is blaming you for what happened in Kirkwall, Riona," Merrill spoke kindly.

"You're right… but I'm still blaming myself, though," Riona sighed as they reached a wide stone stairway that led up to a semi-circular platform upon which a large statue of a slumbering wolf, representing Fen'Harel himself, rested. With no obvious way to proceed onwards, however, the group of three started to look around, the two Hawke sisters examining the many drawings covering the walls of the sanctuary, while Merrill busied herself with deciphering the ancient elven inscription at the base of the wolf statue.

"The Dread Wolf keeps its gaze on the one light that illuminates the way forward," Merrill read, then clicking her tongue when she looked upwards to realize that the statue of the wolf was pointing towards a Veilfire torch mounted on the wall nearby. "Could it really be that easy?" she exclaimed, all but running towards the Veilfire torch to activate it.

Meanwhile, Bethany and Riona were standing side by side next to a particularly curious drawing, giving each other ponderous looks as they tried to comprehend what exactly they were dealing with here. Even Merrill's victorious exclamation behind their backs, and the sound of the large statue sliding aside to reveal an entrance deeper into the sanctuary below could not distract the two sisters from silently observing a drawing in which an elven man dressed in a sentinel armor and covered in the skins of a wolf, Fen'Harel himself, was raising his outstretched palm at an elven slave, using some sort of a magical spell to make the vallaslin fade from the former slave's face.

"I found the way forward!" Merrill shouted at them excitedly. "Come on, let's hurry!"

"Not just yet, Merrill," Bethany replied in a quiet voice. "Please, come over and explain something to us."

"Umm... yes, what is it, Bethany?" Merrill asked, walking up to them both. "What do you wish to know-... oh. I see," she nodded, having noticed the drawing the two sisters were observing with clear fascination.

"So, you have met Fen'Harel, after all," Riona spoke stonily. "He removed your vallaslin. Why did you lie to us about it?"

"I did not lie to you!" Merrill protested vehemently. "Why do you assume that only Fen'Harel alone can do it? Did the thought that someone else might have learned this magic, or that Fen'Harel had thought it to someone, never occur to you?"

"You are speaking about Solas, of course," Bethany spoke confidently. "He removed your vallaslin."

"Yes. Yes, that was him," Merrill finally acceded. "It was the condition upon which he would reveal some of his knowledge to me. As a show of good faith, I had to make a break with the past, with the ties to all those lies the Dalish unwittingly brainwash their children with. I had to clear my mind from all those preconceptions, and only then he would see me fit to learn the truth about what actually happened with the People."

"I'm sorry, Merrill," Riona gave their friend an apologetic stare. "I was too quick to accuse you of lying. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course, Riona," Merrill smiled at her. "Now, shall we continue?"

"Yes, let's do that," Bethany nodded, satisfied with the explanation. "And I must tell you, Merrill, at first, I couldn't get used to you not having the vallaslin, but now I find myself thinking that this look actually suits you very well."

"You are kind to say so, Bethany," Merrill replied with a mysterious smile that made Bethany's heart skip a little faster. "Now, shall we explore the secrets of this sanctuary?" she asked, pointing at the stairway leading below.

"Of course," Bethany smiled, together with Riona catching up with their elven friend and then walking down the wide steps of a stone stairway to immediately face their next barrier, yet another elven mosaic blocking their passage, Merrill immediately proceeding to tear it down in the usual way, causing another wash of magic cascading over them as the mosaic dissipated. This time, the magic brought with it a sense of determination as Bethany closed her eyes and took in the images flashing before her, visions of the former slaves in ranks with Fen'Harel, armed and strong, they skin clear from the vallaslin erased by the Dread Wolf.

"The brand of the Evanuris can be lifted from you, that all may know you oppose their cruelties," Merrill once again was the one to give words to the sensations all three of them were experiencing. "None here are slaves. All are under our protection. All may choose to fight."

"Very idealistic," Riona spoke afterwards. "Still, I just wonder if Fen'Harel simply didn't end up sending these people to their deaths against impossible odds."

"That might be the reason why he came up with an alternative plan to imprison the Evanuris," Bethany guessed, earning a subtle nod from Merrill as they moved onwards to enter a larger chamber below the forgotten sanctuary, one that was crammed full of a variety of still serviceable weapons; swords, shields, staves, bows and arrows, crates of potions the contents of which had long since evaporated, and many other assorted implements of warfare. "Hidden armory," Bethany spoke as she looked around the chamber. "So, the freed slaves actually did fight back against the Evanuris."

The armory had only one exit, a stairway leading down to their right, and the group of three did not hesitate to take it, Merrill acting as if they were pressed for time, even if she did not explain her reasons for such assumption. As their feet touched the ground at the base of the stairs, there was only one turn to take again, leading them into a long corridor, ancient cobwebs covering iron bars of the side-chamber doors, armor stands, crates and broken clay pots strewn about the floor of the passageway, but the three mages paid little heed to their surroundings as soon as they noticed what awaited them at the end of the passageway, the bright blue glow of an active eluvian.

"That's where we must go! Quickly!" Merrill exclaimed, breaking into a run towards the eluvian, leaving the other two with no choice but to follow. They were perhaps twenty yards from the eluvian, however, when its surface suddenly shifted and something large and menacing came through it from the other side, a brawny qunari warrior, followed by several others charging in behind him, all of them looking as if they had faced a terrible battle on the other side, bloodied, beaten and dragging bits and pieces of rubble with them. Even more worryingly, after six of the qunari had passed through, the eluvian suddenly began to crack and shatter, doing so while yet another qunari warrior was trying to squeeze through. The eluvian then exploded with a bright flash of light, ripping the qunari still stuck in it apart and sending chunks of magical glass shards flying around the corridor and injuring the qunari standing close by, Riona's arcane barriers deflecting the few shards that flew as far as the trio of mages.

"No, damn it!" Merrill shouted angrily at the destruction of the eluvian, her face twisted with unseen fury as she launched a spell at the four qunari who were still somehow standing, staggering around following the explosion of the eluvian. The blood vines stretched out from the floors and the walls to quickly strangle their victims, save for one of the warriors, probably the leader of the qunari group judging by his remarkable size, the warrior able to shake off the vines summoned by Merrill's magic and charge at them. Riona's Fist of the Maker slowed his charge and made the qunari stagger, while a lance of frost jumping from the tip of Bethany's staff sent the man flying backwards. As soon as he got back up to his feet, the qunari was confronted with a ray of bright red energy that pierced his chest, the spell channeled by Merrill quickly draining the life energy of the surviving qunari and turning him into a lifeless husk, eventually collapsing on the dusty floor of the corridor.

"That looked a lot like the spell Flemeth taught me to use against Meredith," Riona remarked, staring at Merrill, but the elf looked to be somewhere else in her thoughts, stomping towards the broken eluvian and then standing in front of it, lamenting its destruction.

"What happened here, Merrill?" Bethany asked quietly once it seemed as if the elf had calmed down somewhat. "Do you know where that eluvian led?"

"No," Merrill shook her head. "But I think that we were supposed to stop these qunari from going through the eluvian. I fear that they might have done something horrible... and that we were not fast enough to prevent it from happening," she added, looking around the wider chamber the corridor had emptied into and then nodding at the pile of blackpowder urns stacked in the corner.

"It did look as if they were trying to make their escape after blowing something up on the other side," Riona nodded in agreement. "But what? What did they do?"

"We need to get out of here to find out," Merrill replied. "I can lead us back to the Crossroads and then we can find an alternate path from there."

"Before we do that, Merrill, how about looking around for clues first?" Bethany asked. "Maybe one of them were carrying their orders," she pointed at the bloody qunari corpses.

"I'll check the bodies," Riona sighed, dropping down on her knees next to the qunari leader while Merrill and Bethany stepped away to explore the side chambers, most of which seemed to be simple sleeping quarters of the freed elven slaves. "I have something!" the older of the siblings shouted out a few moments later, making the other two rush back towards her to see Riona waving a couple of bloodied parchments in her hand.

"Well, let's hear it then," Bethany urged her sister impatiently.

"This seems to be an unfinished and unsent message," Riona spoke, having looked at the first of the notes. "Two hours ago, an unknown intruder penetrated our defenses. Masked and cloaked. A mage. Used magic to awaken spirits and turned them against us. Intruder moved as if they knew this place. Fled after spirits awoke. Dozens dead. Spirits keep attacking. Engagement not reco-..."

"Solas. That was Solas, surely," Bethany stated with confidence, staring at Merrill who following a moment of hesitation offered a nod of confirmation. "Why didn't he stop them if he was here, though? Could he not have done it alone?"

"I fear that to stop them might have been my task... a part of my test," Merrill sighed, looking upset and angry. "And I failed it."

"I'm sure we can still fix this... as long as we can find out what the qunari are actually after," Bethany said. "What about the second letter, Ri?"

"Of course," Riona nodded, starting to read it. "These look like some sort of orders... just what we were looking for. 'Station your people in the abandoned elven towers by the lake. It is a short distance from an entrance to the mirror that connects to Halamshiral. We will need the space to lodge our people after infiltration is complete.'"

"This… this eluvian led to Halamshiral?" Bethany gasped, going pale in the face. "And... and the qunari blew something up on the other side? A part of the city, or... or the Winter Palace? Maker! We must know what happened!"

"I agree… this could be bad… very bad," Riona nodded grimly as she looked over at Merrill. "Can you please get us out of here, Merrill? Take us back to the Crossroads and then find an eluvian that would take us to Halamshiral."

"I can try," Merrill nodded, still sounding very upset, stiffly turning around to walk away. "Follow me."

* * *

 _Villa Montilyet, Antiva City_

"You miss her, don't you?" Josephine Montilyet snapped out of her thoughts at the voice of her sister, looking up at Yvette lounging on a sofa in the estate gardens and facing her with a knowing grin. "Just give the accounts a rest for the day, Josie. They won't go away. You're getting lost in daydreaming all the time, sister."

"I suppose it is quite pointless, indeed," Josephine sighed, reluctantly putting her good old writing board aside and reaching for her untouched glass of red wine. "And to answer your question, yes, of course I miss Bethany. How could I not?"

"I miss her as well, though obviously not in the same way as you do," Yvette winked at her older sister. "Everyone at the estate misses her. I think it really proves how much she has become a part of the family."

"Everyone but one person, you mean," Josephine frowned. "Sometimes I feel that mother would be happier if something horrible happened and Bethany would never return. I mean, yesterday she stopped just short of actually saying so."

"Ugh, don't listen to her," Yvette winced, herself having been on the receiving end of her mother's scolding, usually for spending too much of her time in a world of fantasy, and caring too little about how the real world around her functioned. "She'll have no choice but to accept Bethany. Eventually."

"It's been almost two years," Josephine groaned. "I'm no longer sure it'll ever happen."

"Alright… alright, point taken," Yvette rolled her eyes. "I feel like we could complain about mother's antics all day, and that would just sour our moods, so… a change of topic?" Josephine nodded eagerly at that. "Have you heard anything from Connie? When can we expect her? I can't wait to give the poor little darling a hug."

"The day after tomorrow," Josephine replied with a bitter smile. The fears of her cousin and his wife having perished on the sea had been confirmed some two weeks ago, when one of the trading vessels of the Montilyet fleet had come across the wreckage of 'Pride of Rialto', the terrible storm having smashed the ship on the coastal reefs and leaving no survivors. In the wake of the tragedy, Josephine had arranged for Sandral's only child to be brought to the Montilyet estate in Antiva City until they could decide what to do going forward. Even though Josephine usually was not a superstitious person, she had decided against bringing Constance to Antiva City by a ship, instead choosing a land route even if she had full confidence in the Montilyet trading fleet.

"I think you and Beth should just adopt Connie," Yvette blurted out without thinking. "It would also get mother off your backs."

"Yvette!" Josephine glared at her younger sibling. "What a terrible thing to say! She has only just lost her parents, and you already want to force someone else on her. No, I won't do that," the former ambassador shook her head.

"But you've thought about it," Yvette grinned knowingly, much to Josie's chagrin. "Besides, you said that Connie really took to you when you visited Rialto last year."

"Yes… yes, I can't argue with that," Josephine replied dreamily, recalling how much playing with Sandral's adorable little daughter had triggered frighteningly powerful motherly instincts within her, something that she had been unable to hide or deny. She loved Bethany with her entire being, but she also desperately wanted children… or a child, at least. "Anyway, it's much too early to-…" she began to say, but then a terrible sound of explosion suddenly cut her off as a powerful blast wave sent both her and Yvette's sofas tumbling and threw them both to the ground, Josephine grunting in pain as her left arm was caught and twisted under the weight of the rest of her body, while something else falling struck her forehead and drew blood.

"What… what just happened?" Yvette groaned, slowly getting up from the ground, her white dress completely ruined now that she had been tossed into a freshly watered flowerbed, all covered with muddy soil. "Are you alright, Josie?" she asked, giving her sister a worried stare, noticing how Josie's left arm was hanging limply at an angle that was clearly wrong and a small stream of blood trickled from a shallow wound on her brow.

"I'll survive," Josephine grunted, gritting her teeth, more concerned about the reason for this devastating explosion than her minor injuries. "What happened?" she asked, looking around only to notice her brother, Laurent, running out on the balcony of the villa.

"Are you two alright?" he shouted at them in concern.

"We'll be fine, Laurent… just tell us what happened!" Josephine responded, starting to slowly limp back towards the estate.

"The Royal Palace… it…" Laurent's next words made Josephine stop dead in her tracks, staring at her brother in shock. "It just… exploded…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 _Eastern Orlais_

After a fair amount of frantic searching, Merrill had eventually managed to locate a working eluvian which brought the party of three out of the Crossroads and into a collapsed mountain cave, presumably somewhere at the feet of the Frostbacks. Considering that this eluvian provided only one-way travel from the side of the Crossroads, the threesome briefly became worried whether they had ended up in a worse mess than before, buried alive behind an impenetrable barrier of rock. Fortunately, the force magic wielded by Riona and Bethany proved a lifesaver once more, letting them blast through the fallen rubble and emerge on the rocky plains at the feet of the mountains, with no Halamshiral or any other signs of civilization within sight.

Riona had used her newly obtained talent of shape shifting to transform herself into a raven and scout around, shortly afterwards returning to inform the other two that she had spotted a small farmstead nearby, and the three mages swiftly proceeded towards it, hoping to learn more about what had happened on the face of Thedas while they were busy hunting the qunari through the Crossroads. The trio were relieved to discover that Halamshiral was merely twelve miles away and the owner of the farm together with his son had departed to sell their produce at the grand markets of the city. The owner's wife, a mousy and frightened little woman, not that anyone could blame her for being afraid when facing three magic wielding strangers, had at first refused to speak with them at all, but after Bethany's coaxing and generous offer of coin, the woman had rapidly changed her tune. Predictably, she did not know anything noteworthy, though the entire family had been woken up by a tremendous blast somewhere in the north, coming from the direction of Halamshiral, and she was greatly concerned about her husband and son traveling to the city, eagerly awaiting their safe return, dying to hear the news of what had happened.

Equally interested in hearing these news, Bethany decided to offer the woman some extra coin in exchange for letting them stay at least until her husband returned from Halamshiral, or perhaps even putting them up for the night. The farmer's wife had at first been a little uncertain, but it was clear that the family was not financially well off, and the gold on the offer was far too tempting, so she eventually came up with a compromise, allowing the three mages to make use of the barn, which offered plenty of space and the hay provided for softer sleeping berths than they could ever hope for when adventuring in the wilderness.

Come the evening, the owner of the farm returned together with his son, devastated to bring the terrible news that the Empire of Orlais was deep in mourning, lamenting the loss of their controversial but overall beloved empress and her Marquise, both killed in a massive explosion that had torn apart the Winter Palace and buried nearly everyone on the premises under the rubble. As the farmer and his family cried and drowned their sorrows at the dinner table, wondering who could be behind this heinous act, the Fereldans or some lingering supporters of Grand Duke Gaspard, the three mages immediately began to plan their next move to thwart the qunari and prevent them from performing any more such acts of terror. To this end, Merrill insisted on being given some solitude at the barn as she studied her notes to learn where the closest eluvian granting entrance back into the Crossroads was located, for all three of them had agreed that to learn more, they had to return to the Crossroads and confront the qunari.

While Merrill was busy studying in the barn, Riona and Bethany decided to go for a little walk, taking a rather scenic path that circled around the farmer's property, both feeling as if they had much to discuss considering these gruesome news coming from Halamshiral. The evening was truly beautiful as the dusk slowly rolled in, the air a little chilly but without a gust of wind moving the stems in the field of crops, in the leeward of the mighty Frostbacks.

"What have gotten ourselves into this time, Ri?" Bethany asked her older sibling once they stopped walking, the younger of the sisters leaning against a wooden gate to briefly rest her feet.

"Something well over our heads, I bet," Riona shrugged. "This seems like something big enough to get all our friends back together. Even coax Varric out of hiding, I guess. So, I really wonder why Merrill only wanted us along."

"No idea," Bethany replied. "Maybe it wasn't her call?" she wondered, Riona facing her with an inquiring glance. "She acts as if she's being tested. I imagine by Solas, so maybe it was his idea?"

"That does sound like him," Riona agreed. "If this is a test, then maybe he should have given us a more realistic chance to stop the qunari from blowing up the Winter Palace. Then again, I imagine he probably doesn't care about the fate of Orlais. For him, it's probably about something else."

"Definitely," Bethany nodded. "It is... rather upsetting to think about. Celene was good for Orlais, especially after we reunited her with Briala... they did some good things for the elven community, promoting more actual equality, and Solas should have cared a little about that at least. I liked both Celene and Briala, as much as you can like a ruler of a large nation who sometimes must do questionable things for the greater good. And to think that the Valmont line would be wiped out... just like that."

"Did Celene even name a successor?" Riona wondered.

"I don't know," Bethany replied. "I don't think so. I know that Giselle... umm, Divine Victoria tried to convince her to do so, but whether Celene actually got around to it, I have no idea."

"If she didn't then I really do fear for Orlais," Riona sighed. "With the throne empty, the threat of another, more brutal civil war looms large. There will be many challengers fancying their chances now."

"Yes..." Bethany nodded reluctantly. "This is... bad. Very bad. And we don't even know why the qunari would do this. I mean, what's the motivation here?"

"I don't know... not yet," Riona replied thoughtfully. "But it only feels surprising because we've gotten so used to them always fighting the Imperium and leaving the rest of Thedas well alone... but that doesn't mean they would look upon us with any less contempt than upon the Vints. The qunari have always been a threat... it's just that we have foolishly blinded ourselves to it, when we had no reason to do so."

"I guess so," Bethany sighed, turning around to look at the house in the distance, weak candlelight coming from the narrow kitchen window. "Did you hear them talk? It's either Gaspard's loyalists, who I think have long since been extinguished, or the evil Fereldans. Ridiculous, but those are the only threats they can think of. What do you think would happen if we went in there and told them that it was the qunari behind the death of their empress?"

"We'd get laughed out of here," Riona harrumphed. "Speaking of motivations, though... the qunari aren't the only ones we should be wondering about," she added more quietly, nodding towards the barn.

"You don't trust Merrill?" Bethany looked at her sister with surprise. "She didn't have to call upon us in the first place!"

"It's not that I don't trust her, Beth," Riona spoke softly. "I think she would never do anything to harm us, but at the same time... do we know why she's doing this? This might not be because she thinks it's the right thing to do, but because she's being tested by Solas... and I wonder what is the final goal there? Has he promised her some particularly fascinating knowledge or power? She already is so much more formidable than when we last saw her. And you know about Merrill and knowledge... she is not above doing some very questionable things to obtain ancient lore."

"You're right, Ri," Bethany sighed, having spent a while in ponderous silence, occasionally having wanted to interrupt Riona's speech to protest, but always stopping just short. "Still... I don't think Merrill would be using us."

"Perhaps not," Riona shrugged. "But we shouldn't go blindly by whatever she says, Beth. I'm glad I'm here for that very reason. I wasn't the one in love with her, so I fear that your past with Merrill could be coloring your perception of her."

"That's not fair," Bethany huffed, glaring at her older sibling.

"You can't deny how much she has changed," Riona pointed out. "The jury is still out on whether it's for better or worse. You know there is a lot she's not telling us, Beth."

"I know... I know. Perhaps she can't tell us everything because it would mean that she has failed her test," Bethany nodded. "She has changed so much, but when I look deep into her eyes, I can still see the old Merrill in there, kind, gentle, passionate and insatiably curious."

"Just make sure not to lose yourself in those eyes, sister," Riona warned in an earnest voice, feeling a little concerned when she noticed Bethany blushing darkly.

"Give me a bit more credit than that, Ri," Bethany snapped. "I made my choice a long time ago, I'm perfectly happy sticking with it."

"That's good to hear," Riona smiled. "Still, you can't deny... there's an exotic air of mystery about this new Merrill."

"I can't deny that," Bethany shrugged. "A part of me will always have feelings for her, but now that we're no longer together, I would never act upon these feelings and hurt Josie like that. I have a family, a new life in Antiva, things I would never jeopardize."

"I didn't think you were the type to do that, sister, but I still felt like a warning was in order," Riona shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as an insensitive bitch."

"Don't worry, Ri," Bethany chuckled. "Of course, we always wonder about the choices we make and paths we decide not to travel... I'm sure you have your own demons like that to exercise." Riona nodded stiffly at that. "So yes, I have wondered what my life would be like had I decided to stay with Merrill and turned Josie down... and I have wondered about it lately, after meeting this new Merrill. But I have never regretted the choice I made. I mean... with Josie, my life finally has some much-welcomed stability. What would I have with Merrill, the eternal wanderer and adventurer? I can't devote my entire life to the pursuit of some nebulous forgotten lore and knowledge. We're not getting any younger... at some point, we need to settle down, and I'm happy where I've ended up."

"As am I... after a strange, exhausting and painful journey," Riona admitted, then tugging on her sister's sleeve when she noticed a dark shape appearing further down the path and approaching them, Bethany instantly spotting and recognizing the soft green glow of Merrill's eyes.

"There you are," their elven friend spoke urgently. "I've finally figured out the closest eluvian that can take us back to the Crossroads." Merrill chuckled to herself at that, appearing amused for some reason. "You'll probably find this a little funny as well."

"Oh? Why would that be, Merrill?" Riona asked.

"Because this eluvian is in Skyhold," Merrill replied with a smile on her face.

* * *

 _Skyhold_

With no horses to rent or purchase, the three mages were left to the cruel fate of having to brave the journey to Skyhold on foot, an effort that took them two full days to finally reach the former stronghold of the Inquisition. Standing upon the same mountain ridge from which Bethany had regarded the ancient elven fortress for the very first time after their flight from Haven, the youngest of the Hawke sisters observed that it appeared to be in a decent condition and still occupied by the Orlesian army, but the banners depicting the lion of the House Valmont had been lowered as the news of the death of Empress Celene had by now reached Skyhold.

"What are the chances of them simply letting us in to use the eluvian?" Riona asked, after the three of them had finished looking on at their old home during the conflict with Corypheus.

"Slim to none," Bethany shrugged. "But I'll try to sweet-talk them into letting us in, anyway. Shall we?" she asked, pointing at the tall bridge across the deep chasm, leading up to the fully repaired gates of Skyhold.

The gatehouse guards proved alert enough to notice the three mages shortly after they had stepped into plain sight on the bridge, a group of Orlesian soldiers gathering atop of the battlements and animatedly talking amongst themselves as the small group drew ever closer to the gates. "Stop and state your purpose!" one of the guards addressed them, the likely leader of the group considering the plume atop of his helmet was slightly taller and thus supposedly more impressive.

"Greetings, good soldiers of Orlais," Bethany waved at the guards with a beaming smile on her face. "Could you please open the gate and let us in?" she asked politely. "The evening is approaching fast, and you wouldn't want us to freeze out here in the cold?"

"And why wouldn't we want that?" the guard commander asked, eyeing them with clear suspicion. "We have no reason to trust you. Maybe you have something to do with the death of the empress. Why are you suddenly showing up here?"

"We were all friends of Empress Celene," Bethany shook her head. "I used to be an advisor with the Inquisition, when they called Skyhold their home."

"Who the fuck is the Inquisition?" one of the guards atop the battlements wondered.

"Didn't they kill some dragon or something?" another one asked in a particularly bad Orlesian accent, scratching his thin pepper and salt stubble.

"They helped us close that big hole in the sky, you idiots," the guard commander shouted at his dim-witted underlings before turning around to look down at Bethany and her two companions. "So, what if you were with the Inquisition once? This is now an outpost of the Orlesian military forces, and you clearly have no business being here."

"I, uh, left something valuable back at my quarters when evacuating Skyhold and leaving it for the Orlesian army to take over," Bethany desperately tried yet another lie. "I would really appreciate it if you would let me retrieve my possessions, and then we would be back on our way."

"A likely story," the guard commander replied, crossing his arms on his chest and remaining unmoved. One of the soldiers leaned in closer to him, whispering something with a smug smirk on his face. "Now there's an idea..." the commander chuckled, staring at the three women with a look in his eyes that Bethany found instantly repulsive. "Perhaps we could come to an agreement after all."

"We're listening," Bethany replied, strongly convinced that she did not want to hear what the guard commander was about to say.

"Well, like you said yourself, I figure we can't let three lovely ladies freeze out there in the snow," the man chuckled. "There's six of us up here, so what we could do is... we could show you good times, pass you around until you're very, very warm." One of the guards once again leaned in to whisper something to the commander that made the man laugh out loud. "Yes, that's a good one, Pierre... it would leave you very warm, and very sticky."

Bethany winced at that, shaking her head vehemently. "Thank you for the generous offer, but we're going to pass on that," she replied.

"Can I kill them now?" Merrill asked with simple and frightening casualness.

"Uh... no?" Bethany blinked at the elf, turning around and urging the other two to follow her back across the bridge. "The evening is almost upon us," she spoke quietly, pointing upwards at the darkening sky. "I think we can use the cover of the night to get inside. Can you think of anything that could help us?" she asked, winking at her sister.

"A helpful raven?" Riona chuckled.

"None other," Bethany grinned back at her sister as the trio reached the end of the bridge and then disappeared from the eyes of the soldiers of Skyhold, seeking shelter from the wind and the cold in one of the many comfortable crannies formed in the eroding cliff face on the approach to Skyhold. After waiting for slightly more than an hour in the company of a warm and smokeless magical campfire, the three mages rose back to their feet to enact the next stage of their plan, Merrill and Bethany sneaking back towards the bridge while Riona's raven form took to its wings and swiftly flew towards the ancient elven fortress.

With the amount of patrolling guards reduced during the night shift, it posed little difficulty for Riona to fly over the battlements and sneak into the little gatehouse by the portcullis. She quickly transformed back into her human form, taking the two remaining guards on duty by complete surprise and then using her force magic to painfully slam them both against the rough stone walls, knocking them unconscious. Hoping that the portcullis would not creak too loudly, Riona tugged on the levers and quickly raised the barrier, allowing Merrill and Bethany to run in through the now opened passage.

The threesome then proceeded to quickly cross the darkened courtyard, hurrying towards the main keep as swiftly as possible, knowing that it was only a matter of time until their unauthorized entry was discovered. They made it almost all the way to the stairs leading up to the main keep when one of the guards who had stepped out of the building that had once been known as the Herald's Rest tavern noticed them, and immediately recognized them for what they weren't - namely Orlesian soldiers. From that moment on, their _modus operandi_ became simplified: to brute force through the main keep and reach the eluvian in the basement. Bethany had successfully persuaded Merrill to set her deadliest magic aside and limit herself to the still painful but usually nonlethal stonefist spells, the two Hawke sisters using their force magic to great effect to pull and throw the Orlesian soldiers around, toying with them like with ragdolls before leaving them disabled as the three mages carved a quick path through the reorganized throne room of Skyhold, Maxime's beloved seat of power long since dismantled.

The path to the eluvian remained the same as before, one they knew well, having to enter the corridor which had once led to Josephine's office as well as to the War Room, then taking the narrow stairway to the hall below. The recovered entrance to the eluvian chamber had been firmly boarded up to prevent irresponsible usage of the dangerous artifact, but it didn't stand up to Riona's spells, wood splintering and allowing them passage before the Orlesian soldiers could catch up with them. The threesome then dashed down the stairs and plunged themselves into the active eluvian, making sure that their return to Skyhold remained too brief to trigger all sorts of emotions that Bethany feared would grip her heart when revisiting the place where her romance with Josephine had truly blossomed.

* * *

 _Villa Montilyet, Antiva City_

"They're late. Why are they late?" Josephine Montilyet muttered, pacing back and forth at the gates of the Villa Montilyet, time and time again looking down the road approaching the estate, waiting for a carriage to appear at the end of the road, but spotting nothing.

"Will you calm down, Josie?" her younger sister Yvette sighed, shaking her head in dismay. "They're not late. They're not even supposed to be here for another half an hour," she said.

"Are you certain?" Josephine blinked, looking at her nodding sister. "Oh... well, I just can't help being nervous, considering what happened with the Royal Palace and King Fulgeno..."

"It's certainly horrible, but has nothing to do with Connie," Yvette replied. "The caravan she's traveling with was miles from Antiva City when the palace blew up. There's no reason to think something bad has happened to her."

"I suppose that's true," Josephine finally admitted, visibly calming down and stopping her pacing. "Thanks, Yvette," she gave her sister a grateful stare. "It must feel strange to you, being the voice of reason for once," Josie winked at her younger sibling.

"It's eerie," Yvette nodded in all seriousness. "But I don't plan to remain the boring voice of reason for long. Still, the way I see it, when the king of your country gets blown up sky high, you better get serious at least for a short while! And especially now that we've learned that the same thing happened to the Nevarrans. Crazy, no?"

"Indeed," Josephine frowned. The previous morning, the criers throughout Antiva City had been busy shouting from the top of their lungs about the palace of King Markus of Nevarra having been destroyed in an explosion, eerily like the way the stronghold of King Fulgeno had been annihilated at roughly the same time. Many Pentaghasts had been killed in the explosion, considerably thinning the powerful noble house, and Josephine had already written a letter to Cassandra to offer her condolences. Even if she knew that the Warden-Commander of Orlais didn't think much of her own roots, at least it had provided a reason for Josephine to get back in touch and hope to hear back from Cassandra, who under normal circumstances was exceptionally bad at maintaining contact.

"Do you think this could be going on across all of Thedas?" Yvette asked. "Orlais and Ferelden too? That would be just awful!"

"Yes," Josephine returned curtly, feeling a painful knot tugging somewhere in her stomach, making her wince as she considered the potential fallout from the disaster that Yvette's words implied. The loss of Celene might not strike too hard on a personal level, even if she was quite fond of the empress, but it would surely send the Empire of Orlais spiraling into chaos. The fate of Ferelden was even more concerning, and Josephine knew she would be utterly devastated should anything have happened to Alistair and Evangeline, late in her pregnancy. Of course, Josephine had already dispatched her own ravens to both Ferelden and Orlais as soon as she had heard about the tragedy in Nevarra, but so far, the messenger birds were yet to return.

"Who do you think might be behind it, Josie?" Yvette wondered, undeterred by Josephine's short and clipped answers. "The Nevarrans are all pointing at each other. The Pentaghasts screaming that it's the work of the Forsythias, and the Forsythias claiming that some of the Pentaghasts are trying to kill two birds with one arrow, one family branch getting rid of another while at the same time blaming the Forsythias for it."

"Surely, they will realize that neither of the families are to blame when they receive the news of King Fulgeno's death," Josephine shrugged. "Neither the Pentaghasts nor the Forsythias had any reason to do something like this here in Antiva."

"Why would _anyone_ want to kill King Fulgeno?" Yvette exclaimed. "He was nothing! Just a pretty mantelpiece! A decorative ornament for representing Antiva at pointless formal gatherings where nothing of substance was being discussed!"

"Yes, that's why life in Antiva hasn't really come to a grinding halt," Josephine nodded. "Sure, we might be shocked for a moment by something as audacious happening, but since it's the trade princes who literally run the country-..."

"And important families like ours," Yvette interrupted with a proud grin.

"That's very true," Josephine chuckled. "But yes, you raised a very good point, Yvette. Nobody in Antiva would ever think to do something like this to the king. We were all completely ambivalent towards him."

"But who then?" Yvette blinked. "Someone wants to drag us into a war?"

"Hmm, possible, but in that case, wouldn't they have left some hints as to who might be behind the attack, real clues or a frame job?" Josephine wondered. "You know, I think this was probably done by some party that has only a passing understanding of Antivan internal politics. And right now, I'm struggling to make any guesses as to who they could be-..." Josephine was about to say something else, but the words died on her lips as she finally spotted a procession of horses rounding the corner and proceeding down the path leading up to the gates of the villa, a comfortable looking carriage being slowly pulled up to the entrance. "They're here! And about time, too!" she exclaimed with relief, watching as the driver of the carriage climbed down from the perch, bowing to the two Montilyet women as he went over to help a middle-aged Antivan woman climb out of the carriage, Constance's governess then helping the child out, setting her safely down on the roadside gravel.

"Josie!" exclaimed a little bundle of excitement, rushing forward only to be picked up by Josephine's arms, lifting Constance and pressing the small child against her chest tightly in a warm hug.

"Connie, it's so good to finally see you," Josephine managed, just barely avoiding tears from spilling out across her cheeks.

"Ooh, Josie, Josie!" little Constance raved. "We heard big boom on the road! Everyone was so afraid, but I was really, really brave. Well... maybe I was a little afraid, but... still brave!"

"Of course, you were, Connie," Josephine managed to summon a smile as she twirled around her axis, spinning the giggling child around and delighting in her innocent laughter. "Do you want to greet Yvette as well?" she asked.

"Oh! Oh, sure!" Connie giggled as Josephine lowered her down to the ground. "Yvvie!" the child burst out in laughter as she darted forward to wrap her arms around Yvette's legs and nearly toppling Josephine's sister down into the gravel.

While Yvette and Constance were busy distracting each other, laughing about what sort of book about pirates Connie would like Yvette to read for her, Josephine in the meantime walked up to the governess to exchange a few words. "How much has she been told?" she asked the older woman, watching the child placed in her care with a serene look on her face.

"I've told her several times that her parents will not be coming back," the woman replied, sounding deeply downtrodden. "I'm not sure she understands what it means, however. I think she has convinced herself that her parents can't come home **now** , but will do so eventually."

"Maker, this is so heartbreaking," Josephine sighed. "I guess we will have to find a way to make her understand what it means."

"We?" the governess gave her a hollow stare. "You misunderstand, Lady Montilyet. I have been paid through the end of this week, which ends tomorrow, and after that I do not plan to remain in your service. You could not pay me enough to deal with this situation."

"I, umm... I understand," Josephine muttered, watching the child animatedly telling something to Yvette and feeling her heart shattering into thousand pieces from the mere thought of having to be the one to make Connie understand that her parents were dead and would not be coming back, not now, and not later. _Dear Maker, grant me strength,_ Josephine sighed inwardly, trying to draw courage for the job ahead of her. _How do I even handle something like this? Nothing in the world could prepare me for such a terrible task..._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 _The Crossroads_

"This... this is the one, surely," Merrill stated confidently, pointing at an active eluvian directly ahead of them, her confidence grounded in an obvious clue for all to see, a dead qunari warrior having expired just in front of the eluvian, still reaching towards the illusive magical mirror with his arms, but his massive internal injuries getting the better of him.

"And about time too," Riona sighed, shaking her head. She still felt like she couldn't truly trust her senses in the Crossroads, her perception of both space and time feeling extremely skewed. With the perpetual mists making it impossible to see far, she felt as if this realm between the world of mortal men and the Fade was quite small, but on the other hand they had been wandering it for many hours, or possibly even days, without ever experiencing the sense of _déjà vu_.

"It does seem as if he was trying to reach this particular eluvian," Bethany nodded, looking at the ground and noticing more bloody footprints, leading up to the eluvian and then disappearing. "Let's see if he has something interesting amongst his possessions before we enter," she suggested, but Merrill was already on the job, eventually retrieving a smudged note from the pouch at the qunari warrior's belt.

" _'...struck the tower, a great sizzling bolt out of a blue sky'_ ," Merrill began to read from a paper with charred edges which seemed to be torn from a larger page. " _'Afterwards, spirits emerged from a statue of a wolf, as if the lightning woke them, and they appeared to be looking for someone. The only word I understood was 'Fen'Harel'. They did not see me, but beware, for they attack any guards who...'_ "

"So, it is as we speculated," Riona clicked her tongue. "Solas summoned those spirits, ancient servants of Fen'Harel. He appears to possess tremendous power which he never employed while serving the Inquisition."

"I saw him wielding it on a few occasions," Bethany spoke, briefly submerging herself in the memories. "But that's neither here nor there, especially if Merrill can't tell us more about the connection between Solas and Fen'Harel."

"I'm sorry, but that is for Solas and Solas alone to reveal," Merrill replied with an apologetic shrug before pointing at the eluvian. "Shall we? I want us to prevent another tragedy like the one that struck Halamshiral."

"Good point," Riona nodded. "I wonder where this will take us," she mused, the three of them approaching the glimmering eluvian.

"No idea, but I'll be happy if it doesn't take us to some horrible place like the Deep Roads," Bethany chuckled, taking her sister's hand as they entered the eluvian together.

"Uh... you were saying, Beth?" Riona spoke up, sounding unpleasantly surprised as their eyes slowly became accustomed to their new surroundings, dark but unmistakably familiar dwarven tunnels, obviously very deep underground.

"Maker, no... why do you punish me so?" Bethany groaned, shaking her head in disbelief. "Why would an eluvian even lead to the Deep Roads? This doesn't make any sense! Does this make sense to you, Merrill?"

"Not yet, but it must have made sense to those who placed it here," the elven mage replied thoughtfully, already moving forward in the dark passageway, forcing the two Hawke sisters to set their lamenting aside and follow.

There was something a bit off about the section of the Deep Roads they had ended up in, and it took a good while for Bethany to put her finger on what it was. Eventually she came to the realization that despite most of the wall sconces being lit, these corridors of the Deep Roads were much darker than anything she had seen and the trio of mages ended up having to summon Veilfire to further illuminate their path, even if it did make them easy to spot for any potential qunari ambushers. This system of tunnels was most likely some sealed away part of the Deep Roads, or simply far from Orzammar or Kal-Sharok, because they hadn't seen any maintenance in ages, the three mages constantly coming across piles of rubble from either a collapsed pillar or decorative statue, or even parts of the ceiling. Solid cavern wall accompanied them on the right, while on the other side, there loomed a vast and empty dark chasm, of which it was difficult to pick out any details about, other than it being frighteningly deep, the pebble that Riona tossed over the low stone railing giving a faint clang a good while later.

When the Deep Roads passage eventually made a sharp ninety degrees turn to the left, the three mages instantly encountered a group of qunari, hovering over stacked gaatlok containers. "You, who serve Fen'Harel!" one of the qunari bellowed at them angrily. "The Qun demands your death!" he added before giving the command to attack.

The group of four rank soldiers armed with heavy spears and led by a larger and more brawny shock trooper would have probably not posed much of a difficulty for the Hawke sisters and Merrill, but out of nowhere they suddenly received unexpected aid as two figures materialized between a pair of spearmen lagging a little behind, dispatching the qunari soldiers with perfectly executed backstabs, one of the figures dressed in green elven looking leathers and wielding enchanted double daggers, while the other shape was harder to identify, wearing a dark grey armor that seemed to blend seamlessly with the shadows, using a longer dagger, its blade coated with magical flames as it slid out of the dead qunari's flesh, the flame instantly disappearing as the assassin faded from view, becoming one with the shadows.

The charge of the remaining qunari was rather ill-fated, for they were slowed down by Riona's gravitic ring while Bethany smashed them in the face with a cone of ice springing forth from the Hawke's Key. After Merrill had electrocuted them with her more impressive and more powerful blood red chain lightning, only the shock trooper was left standing, but then the two assassins reappeared again, working in tandem as the woman in the green leathers severed the tendons at the back of the qunari's legs while the slim shape in the dark armor buried the flaming blade in the qunari's thick, corded neck, severing the artery in a slightly messy way, not as elegant performance as intended.

"Well, you're no qunari," Riona called out to the other two, lowering her staff in a gesture of peace. "Dare I hope that we have come across allies in this unseemly place?"

"Champion Hawke? First Enchanter Bethany? And... and Merrill, is that you?" the woman in green leathers stepped closer, and now the three mages immediately recognized her in the light of the Veilfire as Marquise Briala. "You look the same as I remember you, Hawke sisters, but Merrill... what has happened to you? Where is your vallaslin?"

"It's a long story and we don't have time for it now," Merrill returned, her brusqueness clearly surprising Briala. "We must learn what these qunari are up to!"

"Marquise Briala!" Bethany exclaimed, glad to see the elven woman. "You're alive! We heard the news from Halamshiral, claiming that both you and the empress had perished..."

"Wait a moment..." Riona spoke up, raising her hand and peering intently at the other figure, guardedly remaining a little behind. "If you're Briala... and we can clearly see that you are the Marquise... does that mean your companion is none other than-..."

"It is true," the other woman now stepped forward, pushing her cowl back and revealing her face, making Bethany gasp a little from surprise as for the first time in her life she saw Empress Celene Valmont without wearing a mask, not to mention one of her incredibly complicated dresses, instead sporting a flatteringly form fitting armor. "We were warned at the last moment. One of Briala's agents gave her life to get the message through to us, and we managed to flee using one of the many eluvians in the Winter Palace, just as the building was collapsing around us. And so, here we are, trying to investigate this qunari plot... and it sounds as if you are here for the same reason."

"That is true, so perhaps we could work together?" Bethany spoke up hopefully, then noticing how Merrill frowned disapprovingly at her proposal, Bethany having to wonder what their elven friend had against Briala and Celene joining them, especially considering that she and Briala used to have been friends in the past.

"Briala and I would most definitely appreciate your assistance, First Enchanter," Celene replied politely, while Bethany continued to study her face in quiet fascination. While the empress possessed certain charisma, even without her golden mask, Bethany would never call her a great beauty, though she was certainly attractive. Celene's skin seemed of pale alabaster in the light of the Veilfire and her light blue eyes, narrowed as she regarded them with scrutiny, together with her pale blonde hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, exuded a certain frostiness about her persona, as if she was still somehow wearing some sort of a mask even if the literal one had been removed from her face.

"Have you learned anything about the intentions of the qunari, Your Majesty?" Riona asked.

"Nothing whatsoever," Celene shook her head, her features briefly revealing frustration. "This attack was completely unexpected. Why would the qunari attack us now? It makes very little sense."

"We were aware of something killing my agents in the Crossroads," Briala spoke up. "That is the only reason why we were able to react quickly and escape the Winter Palace. Never could I imagine that the qunari would be behind these murders."

"And destruction of the Winter Palace," Bethany sighed, shaking her head. "Unfortunately, we have learned just as little as you. I imagine you arrived here only recently, following the trail of blood and the qunari corpse by the eluvian."

"Correct," Celene nodded curtly. "Let us hope that we have better luck exploring this place together. I strongly believe that when facing the qunari, there is safety in numbers," she added, giving the three mages a searching stare, perhaps having picked up on Merrill's grimace earlier.

"A question before we proceed," Briala spoke up again. "The qunari who attacked you shouted something about you serving Fen'Harel. What did they mean by that?"

"We have no idea what they meant," Merrill snapped, though her reply did not seem to appease neither Briala nor Celene.

"There is someone else involved in this conflict, a third party, who also appears to be opposing the qunari," Bethany explained hastily, hoping to clear up any misunderstandings. "We noticed signs of battle between the qunari and someone who must have been a powerful mage," she added, electing not to mention Solas by name, not that she expected Celene or Briala to know anything about their mysterious friend who hadn't accompanied them to the peace talks between Celene and Gaspard.

"Fair enough," Briala eventually shrugged, implying that the matter was dropped and then regarding the three mages with an easy smile. "Shall we move on then?" she asked.

"Of course, Lady Briala," Bethany smiled back at the elf. Her appearance without the mask was less of a surprise to Bethany, even though her mask usually covered as much of her face as that of Celene's. As expected for a city elf, Briala's face was clear of the elven blood writing, or the ancient marks of enslavement as they had learned them for, a collection of freckles dotting her high cheekbones in a particularly attractive fashion. Briala's chestnut hair was pulled back and styled in a large bob, but the most fascinating difference that Bethany could spot between the empress and her marquise was in their eyes. Where Celene's eyes barely gave away any emotion, almost appearing like a part of an invisible mask, Briala's soft brown orbs glimmered with expressive emotion, giving the impression that she was clearly the more impulsive and passionate of the two long-time lovers.

As they resumed their journey through the Deep Roads, a short flight of stairs led them into a larger chamber, one side of which was buried under massive blocks of rubble, piled on top of a group of hapless qunari and remains of their improperly handled urns of gaatlok. On the other side of the chamber, someone had thrown a pair of wooden planks over two empty crates to create a makeshift table, upon which several pieces of paper rested. The group of five gathered around the table to peruse the papers, discovering that they were mostly covered by mathematical calculations, involving a detailed sketch of the collapsed wall, accompanied with measurements of angles and other dimensions, along with lines of text in Qunlat.

"I guess someone wasn't quite as good at mathematics as they thought themselves to be," Riona chortled at the discovery, the others smirking at her comment before moving onwards, having found nothing else of note in the chamber.

The corridor leading out of the chamber turned to the right almost instantly, becoming a steep flight of stairs that curled around the side of a cliff, the seemingly bottomless crevice looming across a low parapet to their left. Still, nothing could have prepared them for the sight that opened to their eyes across the chasm, where they could now see the main structure of this Deep Roads complex, dozens and dozens of armed qunari purposefully going about their assigned duties, the sight of it all making the five women press tightly against the cavern wall and move down the stairway with agonizing slowness, trying not to be noticed by their enemies on the other side of the chasm.

"By the Creators, the qunari operation is huge!" Briala whispered, almost sounding a little uncertain whether to even proceed. "What are they doing here?"

"Some of those constructions look awfully familiar," Bethany said, pointing at the familiar looking towers constructed from timber, supporting a winch to raise great weights from the bottom of the chasm... and the blue glow softly emanating from down below did not leave much to the imagination as to what the qunari were doing here. "We've spent enough time in the Deep Roads to recognize a lyrium mine."

"If the qunari have learned how to mine lyrium without the aid of the dwarves then this is a worrying development," Celene frowned. "Though I wonder what would they need lyrium for. They would never give it to their mages... what were they called? The name escapes me."

" _Saarebas_ ," Riona snapped angrily, still smarting at all the pain these formidable spellcasters had inflicted upon them back in Kirkwall. "I sure hope they're not feeding them lyrium. They definitely do not need it."

Fortunately, none of the busy qunari workers spotted them by the time they reached the bottom of the stairway where a narrow dwarven-sized entrance led them into a corridor cutting through the cliff, the mages immediately having to go back to using Veilfire to pierce the darkness surrounding them and revealing two rather unexpected figures of bronze guardian wolves, howling at the sky high above the leagues of earth.

"What are these doing here?" Briala frowned at the clearly elven craftsmanship.

"Good question," Bethany nodded, glancing briefly at Merrill in hopes for an explanation or at least a theory, but the elven mage remained silent, forcing Bethany to come up with some half-baked explanation on the spot. "Perhaps they are displayed here as war trophies from some old conflict between the Elvhen and the dwarves?" she ventured. Briala frowned at that, but then shrugged her shoulders and simply moved on.

Further down the long corridor, a larger archway opened an entrance to the left and Briala and Celene immediately headed towards it, noticing that the main corridor was coming to a dead end. Riona and Bethany were about to follow them, when they suddenly realized that Merrill was no longer with them, the elven mage having continued down the corridor towards the dead end. At Bethany's urging, Briala and Celene stopped and returned to join the others, even if neither of them looked particularly happy about it, especially when it appeared that Merrill had simply discovered yet another unsuccessful qunari attempt of excavation, rubble having collapsed over the entrance into a side-chamber, dead qunari together with urns of gaatlok lying next to it.

"What is it, Merrill?" Bethany asked her friend in a soft voice.

"There's something important on the other side," Merrill insisted, offering no explanation how she knew it. "We need to reach it."

"Good luck moving all that rubble, Merrill," Briala shook her head at that.

"That's where magic comes in," Merrill snorted, looking almost ready to unleash a spell at the rubble and forcing Bethany to interfere by laying her hand on Merrill's wrist.

"If it is important then we will help, Merrill, but we should remove the gaatlok from the vicinity," she added warningly. "We only want to clear the rubble, not to blow ourselves back to the surface in very tiny bits."

"Umm, yes... perhaps that would be for the best," Merrill admitted, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"I hope this is worth losing time we could be using to learn more about the qunari operations here," Celene remarked, together with Briala carefully picking up one of the heavy blackpowder urns and carrying it a safe distance away, Riona and Bethany busy doing the same before between the four of them dealing with the third and final devastating explosive.

"Well, it looks as if the qunari wanted to free the passage, so there might be something important on the other side," Bethany offered, trying to placate the empress and apparently succeeding for Celene offered no more arguments.

"I should probably leave this to you," Merrill said, looking for Bethany and Riona to employ their force magic to carefully and safely clear the passage from the large blocks of stone, and following some very tentative work in order not to collapse the ceiling of the chamber on top of their heads, the two sisters managed to move the rubble enough so that it allowed them all to squeeze through the narrow gap one by one, Merrill leading the way with Briala and Celene bringing up the rear.

"What do you know... another one of those," Briala muttered, pointing at a large eluvian at the back of an otherwise empty chamber they had entered. "And it looks to be active."

"Saves us time, at least," Merrill shrugged, walking up to the magical mirror and without any hesitation disappearing into the shimmering surface.

"Is this normal?" Celene wondered, sounding a little bewildered. "Just... entering these eluvians without even discussing whether it might be dangerous or..."

"Merrill wouldn't do that if it weren't safe," Bethany replied as she moved to follow the elven mage, though she had to admit to herself that she wasn't all that certain she believed her own words on this occasion.

The hidden eluvian brought them to what was clearly yet another section of the Deep Roads, likely close by, for the passages were decorated with more statues of elven origin, the already familiar guardian wolf figures and statues of messenger owls. As they advanced down a wide corridor, it soon took a turn to the left and led them out into a larger chamber, filled with bright natural light. As Bethany looked up at the collapsing ceiling, she realized that she would have to revise her theory about still being down in the Deep Roads for unmistakable sunlight shone in through the gaps, and here and there she could see bits of green foliage outside and above ground. The walls of the round chamber were decorated with the by now familiar frescos that they now clearly associated with Fen'Harel, and indeed, there was also a massive statue of the Dread Wolf himself, resting on a large dais in the center of the chamber. The mural depicted a rather strange looking massive dark shape, somewhat reminiscent of a huge golem, almost taking up the entire fresco. The golem-like creature was being torn apart by a golden disc of magical energy as the focal point of the mural in its center, a ray of energy bursting skywards from the orb.

"A statue of Fen'Harel, isn't it?" Briala mused, looking at the stone Dread Wolf. "How odd to hear his name mentioned by the qunari and then to find his statue here," she remarked, as if expecting an answer, but the three mages were too busy to reply, inspecting the mural closer and eventually discovering what all of them had felt, the presence of a hidden Veilfire rune, reacting to the Veilfire lit at the tips of their staves.

Bethany waited for Riona and Merrill to finish studying the Veilfire rune before following their example, not having to wait long for the ancient magic to begin unfolding within her mind and giving up its preserved secrets, allowing Bethany to literally hear voices from these stored memories of the elven people. "Hail Mythal, adjudicator and savior! She has struck down the Pillars of Earth and rendered their demesne onto the People! Praise her name forever!" chanted an exhilarated and thunderous voice. _This just confirms what we already knew. The elves of Arlathan fought the Titans many ages ago,_ Bethany thought to herself as a vision of green vines growing and enveloping a sphere of fire unfolded before her eyes, the unmistakable scent of blood filling the air around them.

The vision eventually grew dark, and Bethany was already expecting for the memories to end there, but the overwhelming sense of the passage of time, as much as eons, made it clear that she was still in grip of the memories. In the darkness, she could hear the crackling of magical runes all around her, as if they were filled with angry energy. The darkness finally lifted, revealing another vision, this time of many elves scurrying around down in the Deep Roads. Bethany felt herself shudder powerfully as she experienced the emotions coursing through these panic-gripped elves, their terror, heart-pounding and ice-cold, as they cast their spells to seal the Deep Roads passages with stone and magic. "What the Evanuris unleashed in their greed could end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all," came a hushed whisper in the dark before the vision finally cleared and allowed Bethany to regain her bearings back in the world of the living.

Her first instinct was to turn to Merrill with questions, and she noticed that her sister had the same idea, Riona already opening her mouth to speak, but then stopping herself and glancing back at where Celene and Briala stood, eyeing them carefully. Bethany immediately understood why Riona had fallen silent, realizing that perhaps they should not disclose what they had learned to the two most influential people in Orlais, even if Bethany did not believe they would find such ancient history particularly interesting. From the look on Merrill's face, and from her previous interactions with Celene and Briala, it was becoming painfully obvious that Merrill did not want to share information with the two newcomers to the group, and Bethany ventured that their elven friend would not appreciate an interrogation on the matter in front of Celene and Briala.

"Did you learn anything useful?" Briala asked eventually, having grown tired of waiting.

"Only some vague and cryptic historical records, I'm afraid," Riona replied with a shrug. "There was nothing that would pertain to our current situation," she added.

"I told you this was a waste of time," Celene sighed, her annoyance visibly growing as the group of five headed back towards the eluvian to make the short journey back.

 _I respectfully disagree, Your Highness... and if you had seen that vision, you would not think so either,_ Bethany thought to herself. _I would so love to discuss what that Veilfire Rune meant with Riona and Merrill, but I guess it will have to wait. I suppose it's not hard to see why the Evanuris would fight the Titans. They were probably after their blood to power their spells, to obtain even more and more power to defeat their enemies and perhaps gain an advantage over each other. But I wonder... why did they seal these passages? What were they worried the Evanuris would unleash? I mean, what's the most dangerous and deadly thing about the Deep Roads? Well... the Blight and the darkspawn, of course. So..._ Bethany staggered from the disturbing implication, but with everyone save for Riona already having passed through the eluvian, nobody paid her distracted state too much heed, her sister appearing similarly ponderous as she literally dragged Bethany through the eluvian with her.

 _We already learned that the ancient Tevinter Imperium did not destroy Arlathan,_ Bethany continued to muse after they had ended up back in the already familiar Deep Roads passages. _What if it weren't the magisters who unleashed the Blight upon Thedas? What if the Evanuris somehow did that during their struggle with the Titans?_

"Focus now, Bethany," she snapped out of her thoughts at her sister's whisper, casting a guilty stare at Riona as the five of them proceeded onwards again, though the passages leading to the qunari occupied lyrium mine.

The warning came just in time, as in one of the chambers full of well-preserved elven statues they were passing through, the group of five were ambushed by a horde of Bethany's least favorite opponents, the numerous and irritating deepstalkers. Remembering how the acidic spit of the disgusting little creatures had once forced her to take a stinging cold bath at the bottom of a crevice in the Vimmark Mountains, Bethany was particularly determined not to let it happen yet again, working her arcane barriers to protect the group as the others did their part by decimating the little beasties in short order.

"Hold on a moment," Briala exclaimed suddenly while the others appeared eager to move on from the chamber that was now thoroughly soaked in deepstalker blood and acidic spittle. "Over there, I saw something," she pointed at the base of the largest of the statues, the group of five gathering around it to notice a carefully prepared sleeping berth, together with an adventurer's belongings, an open and meticulously maintained journal resting on the bedroll.

"Well spotted, Lady Briala," Bethany smiled approvingly at the elven spy as the latter picked up the journal and began to examine it.

"Hmm... this is mostly doodles of the elven statues we've seen in the ruins," the elf shrugged, browsing the journal. "Also, whoever was resting here was busy practicing Qunlat. Lots and lots of meaningless text being translated back and forth."

"And nothing else?" Riona asked, sounding disappointed.

"Not that I can see... no, wait," Briala suddenly stopped, having turned another page. "This might be interesting. _'If Fen'Harel truly has agents working against us, then the Dread Wolf must be laughing at me. The Blight takes my clan, so I go to Kirkwall. Kirkwall goes to ruin, so I flee to the Qun. Now the qunari bring me down into the lightless depths, and for what? Because the nursery rhymes I remember from childhood make me an expert of ancient elves?'_ "

"Again, with the agents of Fen'Harel," Celene muttered, the empress appearing more and more suspicious.

"We have noticed signs of another party being involved and opposing the qunari," Bethany spoke up, trying to clear the air. "I assure you, Your Highness, we are not the agents of Fen'Harel." _At least Riona and myself aren't. I wish I would feel confident in vouching for Merrill._

"The Blight takes my clan, so I go to Kirkwall," Riona repeated, looking at Merrill. "Could this be someone from your old clan, Merrill? Clan Sabrae?"

"That is very likely," Merrill nodded grimly. "Don't ask me who, though. I barely remember the names anymore, and even if I did... the thought of them being an expert on ancient elves is laughable and preposterous indeed."

"Is there more, Lady Briala?" Bethany asked politely.

"Yes, just a moment," the elven spy replied, turning another page and starting to read. " _'These statues are old. Better shape than anything I've seen on the surface. Many of them are for Mythal, though. And Fen'Harel. Not in a spot of honor, but guarding, attending. Protector and All-Mother, why are you honored here, so far from light of the sun? And why was the Dread Wolf at your side?'_ " Briala stopped and gave the three mages an intrigued stare. "These seem like fascinating questions... and yet you all appear as if you already know the answers to them?"

"No, we simply know not to get distracted by something that has no bearing on our current situation," Riona replied, not realizing how it sounded considering they had insisted upon clearing an entire passage to explore an eluvian that had nothing to do with the qunari plot. Briala and Celene likely picked up on this, the pair exchanging subtle stares but remaining silent as they proceeded towards the next chamber in their path.

The next chamber turned out to be a large cavern, sinking in darkness, but revealed by Veilfire to be full of qunari mining equipment, carts for transporting the produce and containers to safely store the mined lyrium. Of the lyrium itself there was no sign, as it appeared that the qunari had stripped this part of the mine clear with painstaking accuracy, removing even the tiniest vein from the stone and then moving on from the dark cavern, the basalt columns forming its walls harvested bare. The base of the cavern was laid out with solid walkways made from wooden planks, but they appeared to lead around the cavern in circles, not immediately revealing any path forward. It was only after a while that Empress Celene pointed them towards a large hole in one of the cavern's walls, allowing them to use a drop of about two yards onto a solid ledge below. After a brief hesitation, the group came to a unanimous decision to use this path to proceed forward, even if it meant that using it to retreat would be challenging, especially if they were chased by an army of angry qunari.

The group of five were so preoccupied with the debate on whether to use this path forward or not, that they almost missed the fact that after the jump down they ended up in a makeshift campsite. Its lone inhabitant had been busy polishing a smudged breastplate with the traditional Chantry sunburst of a templar armor, the man instinctively going for his longsword as with an expression of disbelief he turned to face a group of five powerful and dangerous women suddenly facing him, poised to attack.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 _The Deep Roads_

"Odd to find a templar so far down in the Deep Roads... all alone and surrounded by the qunari," Riona Hawke remarked, as the group of five fanned out to circle the stunned looking inhabitant of the secluded campsite.

"Please... please, don't hurt me!" the templar looked at them pleadingly, speaking in a tortured voice. "I don't care whether you serve Fen'Harel or not, if you're here to stop the qunari, then you will want to hear me out! And you need to stop them... what the Viddasala intends is madness!"

"What's a Viddasala?" Bethany wondered, having never heard the name, not from the Iron Bull, nor from the qunari in Kirkwall.

"I don't really know myself, but she's in charge of the qunari operation," the templar spoke, looking a little relieved that the strangers were more interested in asking questions than stabbing him to death. "I heard that she's with those Ben-Hassrath... one of the top spies. But that's all I know about her rank. The qunari don't tell me much... to them, I am still an outsider."

"Yet again someone suspects us of working for Fen'Harel," Celene noted, glancing at the templar. "Explain your words, my good man."

"I, uh... the Viddasala just said that we are being attacked by agents of Fen'Harel, and the qunari here accept her word as a fact," the templar shrugged, staring straight at Celene and not recognizing her without the mask, or perhaps his brain simply did not allow for the possibility that the empress of Orlais would be for some reason adventuring in the Deep Roads. "We've had these agents causing trouble all over the Crossroads. Sabotage, making spirits attack us... the Viddasala is very angry about the delays it has caused."

 _Not a single agent then... interesting, though perhaps this Viddasala doesn't truly know what is going on,_ Bethany thought to herself, then deciding to steer the conversation away from the whole Fen'Harel line since it appeared to be making Celene more than a little suspicious. "Tell us more about yourself. How did you come to be down here with the qunari?" she asked.

"My name is Jerran. Sir Jerran, once," the ex-templar sighed. "I was a templar in Kirkwall, until I joined the Qun. In fact," he suddenly hesitated, making a tentative step towards Riona. "Do my eyes deceive me, or… are you truly Champion Hawke, the woman who drove the qunari out of Kirkwall?"

"My part in those events is greatly exaggerated, but yes, I am Riona Hawke, and yes, some still insist on calling me Champion," Riona smirked.

"I for one was glad that you found a solution that allowed the qunari to leave without an even greater bloodshed," Jerran spoke, sounding relieved. "I would have hated to take up arms against you, Champion. I would hate to do that today... although I imagine that would be a shamefully short encounter."

"I don't think you need to worry about fighting us," Riona shrugged. "I recall the qunari in Kirkwall were having some success with converting people to Qun, but I didn't expect it to echo even to this day almost a decade later. We found a diary of some elf who was also converted in Kirkwall and came here with the qunari."

"Ah yes... they say she died in a poorly calculated gaatlok explosion a few days ago," Jerran remarked, looking regretful. "Back then, in those dark days, the qunari seemed to offer an escape from the madness and chaos that had gripped the city. They were like the eye of the storm. And until I was assigned to the Viddasala and her mission, I never regretted my decision to join the Qun."

"This is where you tell us what the Viddasala is planning," Briala gave the man a sharp nod, keeping a hand on the hilt of her dagger as an encouragement.

"This place is a lyrium mining and processing center," Jerran began to elaborate.

"Everyone with eyes can see that, tell us something we _don't_ know," the elven spy glared at the suddenly once again nervous looking templar.

"The qunari are mining lyrium for…" Jerran spoke, then hesitating and turning to look at Riona. "You were in Kirkwall. You must have had some encounters with the _saarebas_."

"I would have been happy to never hear that name again," Riona winced. "They were incredibly frustrating opponents."

"Even as a templar, I've never seen anything like the power that a _saarebas_ can unleash," Jerran spoke fearfully. As he was talking, Bethany shot a glance at Merrill and noticed a faint smirk on the elven mage's lips, Merrill not appearing a single bit intimidated by the mention of the deadly qunari mages. "And now Viddasala is feeding them lyrium, a lot of lyrium."

"So, I guessed it correctly," Celene remarked, though without appearing smug about it. "But with their explosive powder, I do wonder why they even need to make their mages more powerful. They didn't need them to destroy the Winter Palace."

"It does seem like a strange plan for the qunari," Bethany remarked. "As I recall, they were particularly distrusting of their mages," she said, image of the Saarebas they had once escorted through Darktown at the behest of the treacherous Sister Petrice coming back to her, the unfortunate qunari having had his lips sewn together just because the other qunari had been so terrified of him casting a spell to ensnare them. "Why would they be feeding lyrium to them?"

"It's all a part of some plan she calls 'Dragon's Breath'," Jerran explained with a shrug. "There's more to the plan than giving lyrium to the _saarebas_ , but I couldn't find out what it was. The others disliked when I started to ask too many questions."

"Understandable," Riona nodded, giving the templar a firm stare. "Now, about your role here. We didn't see any dwarves assisting the qunari workers. Would I be correct in assuming that you are here because of your expertise with lyrium?"

"That is true, Champion," the ex-templar admitted nervously. "They wanted me to teach them everything I knew about lyrium, where it comes from, everything it can do, how we put it to use... I knew enough from my time with the Templar Order to get them started, but they quickly figured out more and far exceeded my knowledge of lyrium. I don't know how, but their minds operate unlike ours."

"But even if you could teach them _about_ lyrium, you couldn't teach them how to _mine_ it," Bethany argued. "From what we have been told, exposure to raw lyrium kills anyone who tries to mine it, other than the dwarves."

"True enough... and it killed them at first, many of them. It was distressing to observe," the former templar sighed. "But the qunari possess discipline matched only by the Tranquil. They're exceptionally quick learners and they somehow figured out a solution. They found a way to use gaatlok to mine lyrium so they don't have to touch its raw form."

"This is not good news even if we manage to stop the qunari here," Empress Celene stated, looking more than a little unnerved. "If they have obtained knowledge of how to mine lyrium, they will be able to simply start their operation elsewhere. They will be free from the supply chain by the dwarven thaigs that the rest of the surface nations are literally enslaved to."

"You're not going to like the goal of the Viddasala's plan then," Jerran spoke, looking uncomfortable. "She said that her plan would 'save the South', which could only mean one thing... an invasion."

"The South needs no saving, definitely not by the qunari!" Celene snapped angrily, appearing outraged at the mere thought. "Ever since the defeat of Corypheus, the South has seen peace and recovery. We will not allow these qunari invaders to ruin it!"

"I agree that the timing of this invasion seems all wrong," Riona nodded in agreement. "But the qunari are zealots and ideologues. Their reasoning is sometimes so strange and alien that we cannot even comprehend it."

"Regardless of the 'whys', we have a qunari operation that needs to be stopped," Briala reminded everyone. "The question remains on how to best do it."

"If I may..." Jerran spoke up timidly. "The qunari have caches of those round casks of gaatlok scattered all through the mine. If you could get the primers from the central supply room, you could prime the gaatlok and detonate it. That might do enough damage to the mine to trigger a collapse."

"The validity of this plan depends on whether we can escape the mine before the gaatlok detonates," Briala frowned, casting a worried glance over at Celene.

"How do we know it would be enough to actually destroy the mine?" Riona asked. "I mean, the qunari blast the rock with it all the time while mining, right?"

"Controlled explosions in small quantities," Jerran explained. "But even that sometimes triggers a partial collapse," he added, turning around and pointing behind him at the wall of the cavern where the group of five women could see that in many places the rocks had become dislodged and given way to cascading streams of water, crashing into the seemingly bottomless crevice and working to slowly fill it and create an impressive underground lake.

"Very well, but how do we use these primers, and how do we ensure that they go off at the right time when we are already back in safety?" Briala frowned, still not impressed by the plan. "I don't know, but this plan just appears too optimistic to me. We don't want to pick up those primers and then start wondering about how to use them."

"Briala is correct," Riona had to admit eventually. "This is too dangerous… and nobody here knows how to use those primers, yes?" she asked, giving Jerran a long stare, but the timid ex-templar could only fearfully shake his head. "I've heard too many stories about people messing with gaatlok and blowing themselves up because they had no idea what they were doing."

"Well… maybe there is another way," Bethany mused thoughtfully, walking up to the edge of the former templar's campsite and carefully observing the qunari lyrium mine spreading directly before them. "I think that if we could place the casks of gaatlok in strategic places… such as there, there, there… and perhaps also there…" she said, pointing at each location in turn. "Then we could actually hit them with our magic from safety over here. That would trigger them to explode better than any primer."

"I suppose it's not impossible," Riona admitted, standing next to her sister and already starting to memorize the best locations where to place the gaatlok casks. "We would have to sneak over there and then subtly move those casks to where we need them to be, all the while making sure that the qunari don't notice what we're doing. That might prove more than a little problematic. If they notice us, and I fear that they will, it's going to be very difficult and dangerous to move the casks at the same time as we fight them."

"Then what do you propose?" Bethany asked.

"I propose that we try regardless," Riona shrugged. "I mean, I suppose I could use my magic to get over there and move the casks all by myself, but…"

"No way, those are much too heavy for you to move by yourself," Bethany shook her head vehemently. "Besides, what if they notice you and attack, making fleeing impossible? We would be in no position to help you. No, I like this plan even less. Let's just go ahead with my idea."

"I concur," Celene nodded. "We should attempt Lady Bethany's plan."

"I would feel much better if you were to remain here in the safety of the campsite," Briala told her lover, though something in her voice suggested that she already knew her suggestion would be left ignored, Celene huffing and not even dignifying it with a reply.

Having advised Jerran on how to reach the eluvian back to the Crossroads, the group of five wasted no more time in moving on from the former templar's campsite, and after enduring another irritating deepstalker ambush in the next chamber eventually found themselves on the lower walkways that led across the chasm to the other side of the mine where the qunari had moved their operations to.

The first group of qunari they came across were guarding the solidly built dwarven bridge leading across the chasm, a trio of burly spearmen blocking their path. On their own, Briala and Celene might have been able to sneak past them, but the three mages were considerably less adept at remaining stealthy and thus had no chance to make it past the alert guards unseen. There were stacked casks of gaatlok on the bridge next to the guards, making their task considerably trickier as the mages had to be more careful in how they utilized their craft. In the end, Bethany's pull of the abyss spell proved to be the winner as a precise placement of her magic dragged the three spearmen away from the gaatlok casks and allowed Riona and Merrill to let loose with their magic, leaving only one of the qunari warriors for Briala and Celene to finish off, Bethany catching herself marveling at just how composed and natural the empress appeared while slitting the throat of the qunari spearman, finding it hard to link this ruthless assassin with bard training with the elegant, charming ruler of Orlais, dominating the courtrooms of Val Royeaux and Halamshiral.

"So far so good," the empress commented, wiping her enchanted blade clean before sliding it into its sheath. "They do not appear to have caught wind of our scuffle with the guards."

"It's rather hard to overhear anything in this place," Riona replied, looking up the stairs leading further into the mine, half-expecting more qunari to come charging down, but the stairway remained empty. "The sound of crashing water, the gaatlok explosions, hammering away at the rocks… I'm not surprised they haven't noticed a thing."

"I must say it's very convenient that the gaatlok is already out here on the bridge," Bethany remarked, having glanced back across the chasm to the ledge where the former templar had made his camp. "If we can knock it out, the qunari won't be able to give chase. The only problem is that the gaatlok casks are on the wrong side of the bridge and can't be seen from the ledge, but that should be easily remedied."

"Let's just move quickly," Briala nodded in agreement, the five of them then quickly dragging the explosive casks to the other side of the bridge, where they were well visible from the ledge. "And now onwards, before they have noticed us," she added, the group of five quickly ascending the stairs and proceeding further into the mine, a veritable maze of dark tunnels, the five having to move slowly and carefully, Briala walking at the front and probing one step ahead at a time, the mages not daring to light Veilfire that would immediately attract attention from the qunari.

Further ahead, the tunnels eventually led them out onto one of the qunari mining platforms, crammed with mining equipment and raw produce as well as more gaatlok casks, however, this platform was not visible from the ledge and thus of no interest to them. Fortunately, for some reason there were no qunari currently working on this platform, so the group of five decided to take a little breather to ponder their options going forward.

"I'm not so keen on moving back into the tunnels," Riona remarked, glancing at the dark hole leading back to where they had emerged from. "Wandering them in darkness is a recipe for disaster. If only there was another way forward."

"There might be, Champion," Celene replied, smirking as the others turned to her with questioning stares. "It might be a bit of a scramble, but if you feel up to it, we could try that path," she pointed at a frighteningly narrow ledge formed from the tops of the hexagonal basalt columns, creating a serpentine path around the outer edge of the mine.

"Umm… that might prove interesting," Bethany gulped, not being particularly fond of heights, but mostly fearing for Merrill considering how many times the elven mage had nearly made life threatening missteps on their previous adventures. "Still, I'm willing to try, as long as Merrill feels confident about it."

"I think I can just about manage," the elf gave her a soft smile before walking up to the wall of basalt columns and gracefully scaling the first smaller column, taking her up to a slightly more level ledge from which she proceeded to ascend the row of basalt columns with enchanting elegance, leaving Bethany staring at the elf with her mouth agape, not having previously seen Merrill moving with such grace and confidence. "See, it's not all that hard," Merrill commented as she waited for the others to catch up with her, Briala and Celene moving with confident purpose, the Hawke siblings taking much more care and making sure not to stare down into the chasm, blue glow of lyrium veins rising up from it.

While carefully scaling the rising basalt columns around the mine, the group came upon yet another mining platform that was currently not in operation, but still had the casks of gaatlok lying around next to it. Having noticed that this platform was in range from the former templar's campsite, Merrill together with Briala and Celene jumped from the ledge onto the platform to rearrange the gaatlok casks so that they would be easier to hit with their spells from the other side, then jumping back to the ledge while the two Hawke sisters waited for them to finish their task, trying to catch their breaths and hoping that their hearts pounding in their chests would calm down at least slightly.

"Look," Bethany spoke up soon after they had resumed the exhausting climb up the ledge, pointing ahead at another massive stone bridge, connecting to a part of the complex that they hadn't even been aware of when gazing at it earlier, unable to see it from their vantage point. "I wonder if it could lead to the central supply Jerran mentioned," the younger of the sisters mused.

"The ledge will lead us right up the bridge, so I guess we will find out soon," Briala remarked, continuing to scale the basalt columns at the front of the group.

True to the elven spy's words, they reached the top of the ledge soon after, a small platform from which the only path forward was to step onto the bridge and right into the view of a qunari patrol, emerging from the dark passageways crisscrossing the mine. Before the group of infiltrators had any chance to strike, cries of alarm went out and another group of guards charged them from the other side of the bridge, half a dozen armed qunari soldiers likely responsible for protection of the central supply.

"Mind the gaatlok," Bethany warned as she once again used her force magic to drag the onrushing qunari away from the explosive casks, Riona smashing them with the Fist of the Maker while Celene and Briala released precision shots from their crossbows, then fading from sight only to reappear moments later to stab the surviving qunari defenders in the back and eliminate them. Meanwhile, Merrill had annihilated the patrol all by herself, the elven mage resorting to her frighteningly powerful spell that combined her nature magic with blood magic, summoning the thorny blood vines that strangled the qunari warriors and rapidly bled them out, leaving behind only pale and lifeless husks.

With no more incoming defenders in sight, the group were about to proceed further across the bridge and into the central supply itself, when Empress Celene pointed at one of the dead who had fallen prey to Riona's magic, having had their skull smashed against the heavy stone tiles of the bridge. "This one is an elf," the empress sighed. "I cannot help but think that every time an elf or a human willingly joins the Qun, it is like a mark of failure on our civilization."

"I don't think they find as many converts in Orlais as they found in Kirkwall, if that is any consolation, Your Highness," Bethany replied politely.

"Wait," Merrill stopped suddenly, looking down at the dead elf. "I remember this one. He belonged to my old clan… clan Sabrae. I cannot recall the boy's name, but he was one of Master Ilen's apprentices."

"I'm sorry, Merrill," Riona spoke, even if the elven mage appeared completely unaffected by this trip down the memory lane.

"We all make our own choices. He made his," Merrill shrugged, dropping to her knees to remove a torn notebook from the dead elf's leathers, flipping it open to read the final entries. " _'They say the agent of Fen'Harel caused trouble in the Crossroads. I wish I knew. I wish whoever fights in the name of the old wolf was around to fight when the darkspawn took my clan.'_ Typical Dalish," the elven mage snapped with a look of disgust on her face. "Oh, woe is us. Why didn't someone show up to save us? All they know is how to wallow in their victimhood and reminisce about the past all of which is a lie anyway."

"Ouch… that is very harsh, Merrill," Bethany winced, not that she found anything inaccurate per se about her old friend's statement. "Anything else of interest in there?" she pointed at the notebook.

"Just embarrassing praise for the Qun as his answer to everything," Merrill snorted, about to throw the notebook away, but then catching something on the next page and resuming reading, stopping to elaborate only at the insistent stares of the others. "Well, he was just wondering about the elven statues down here, as were we. I suppose the question of why not let the dwarves mine lyrium is a valid one, since it would have been so much safer to let them do it. My old clan mate was theorizing that perhaps the elves had to come down here because they were at war with the dwarves, cutting them off from lyrium supply."

"History books speak nothing of a war between elves and dwarves," Celene appeared confused at that.

"Obviously not," Merrill smirked irreverently. "But now I also recall a story Keeper Marethari told us, about the dwarves fearing the sun because of Elgar'nan's fire. Was it perhaps a metaphor for the elves of Arlathan driving the dwarves underground? It seems possible now. At some point in history, Elgar'nan was nothing more than a powerful archmage with impressive control over fire spells from the elemental school of magic."

"I wonder if there's anything about such a conflict in the records of the Shaperate," Bethany mused.

"Not after it was so thoroughly destroyed in the Orzammar riots, First Enchanter," Celene reminded her of the currently nebulous situation in the great dwarven thaig.

"I don't like staying exposed out here on the bridge for too long," Briala spoke, looking around worriedly. "Shall we move on?"

"Just a moment," Merrill raised her hand, stopping Briala. She walked up to the railing of the wide bridge and stared across the chasm. "I can just about see the templar's camp from here. Shall we arrange the blackpowder to destroy the bridge?"

"I could never hit the casks all the way from there, Merrill," Bethany shook her head.

"Nor could I," Riona nodded. "I don't think anyone can."

"I will welcome this opportunity to prove you wrong, if you would only help me move the casks," Merrill shrugged, the others exchanging uncertain stares before spending a few minutes to bring the casks over to one of the pillars by the railing, Bethany and Riona both wondering just how Merrill intended to hit a target they could barely even see across the vast distance.

At Briala's further insistence, the group then quickly crossed the bridge to enter the central supply, a proper dwarven structure carved into the cliff face, but oddly enough the interior of it appeared elven, more of the howling wolf guardian statues scattered throughout the great hall, the floor of which was decorated with clearly elven mosaic tiles. _This almost makes it look as if the elves drove the dwarves out of this mine during some sort of a conflict, and then added their own touches to make the place feel like their own,_ Bethany thought to herself, but had to cut short her exploration of the hall and any further musings, as a crackling ball of lightning suddenly landed in the middle of the group of five, about to explode.

Recognizing one of the signature spells of the saarebas, Bethany immediately cast arcane barriers on the group, mentally bracing herself for a world of pain, when she noticed Merrill simply waving her staff with a bored expression on her face, and the crackling ball of lightning was sent hurtling across the floor of the hall back towards an onrushing group of qunari led by a massive shock trooper, the lightning ball exploding in their midst and decimating the enemy.

"I didn't know you can do that!" Bethany gave Merrill a look of awe at that, the elven mage grinning broadly from the reaction.

"Stop your fawning, Beth, we still have more qunari to deal with," Riona admonished her younger sister, even if she had to admit that Merrill's magic was highly impressive.

"Not a problem," Merrill shrugged, glancing over at where the qunari shock trooper was slowly getting back up to his feet, roaring for more reinforcements that arrived moments later to join their leader. The arc of red chain lightning, however, made short work of this group as well, and this time the shock trooper failed to get up for more punishment.

"Don't forget the Saarebas," Riona shouted a warning at her sister, both turning to launch dispelling magic at the wily qunari mage, disappearing and then reappearing again, hiding behind the many pillars in the central supply hall. With the protective barrier of the Saarebas removed, however, Briala and Celene emerged with their daggers at the ready, burying them in the ox-man's hide-like skin and causing blood to spatter across the decorative tiles. Still, the enemy mage was not quite done yet and a powerful mind blast spell knocked the two assailants aside and left them dazed. The Saarebas was about to launch a more powerful spell at the empress and her lover, when Merrill decided to intervene, this time with a simpler stonefist spell, but considering that the arcane barriers of the Saarebas had been removed, it still had a devastating effect, picking the qunari mage up and slamming him hard against a pillar. Before he had recovered, a blast of ice left the tip of the Hawke's Key and Bethany's spell froze the qunari to the pillar. Riona followed up with a similar ice blast, further encasing the Saarebas in ice and leaving him completely helpless and incapable of moving.

"Should we… I don't know, finish him off?" Bethany asked hesitantly as she watched the enemy mage struggling against the bonds of ice.

"I'm not going to bother," Briala shrugged, having shaken off the effects of the Saarebas' spell, Celene also appearing to have recovered. "I mean, we plan to collapse the mine, so he's going to be dead anyway, no reason to get our hands dirty," she said, glancing across the hall, her gaze stopping at a makeshift table at the end of the hall, between two piles of casks of the explosive gaatlok. "What do we have here?" she asked, walking up to the table and picking up several items, thin and intricate metallic tubes. "Could these be the gaatlok primers our templar friend told us about? Perhaps I might still be able to figure out how to use them."

"I'm fine with that, if you make sure none of us explode together with the gaatlok," Bethany chuckled, watching how Merrill also walked up to the makeshift table, but the elven mage's gaze was not focused on the gaatlok primers but rather on an ancient looking tome next to them. "Merrill? What is it?"

"This tome… I recognize it," Merrill replied in a hoarse voice. "I know from where the qunari would have taken it… no, no, this is terrible! They should have never breached Vir Dirthara!"

"What is this Vir Dirthara, Merrill?" Bethany asked softly.

"It is… a sacred place. A place of learning," Merrill replied stonily before carefully picking up the tome and wrapping it in a piece of protective cloth before shoving it into her bags. "They sought to steal the knowledge of the Elvhen about the wonders of magic… I would die before I see them succeed!"

"Hopefully it won't come to that, Merrill," Riona spoke up, looking a little concerned at Merrill's outburst. "And at least we have learned where to go next after we are done here."

"Yes… I will cleanse Vir Dirthara from the qunari filth if it's the last thing I do," Merrill nodded, both Hawke sisters taking an involuntary step back at the expression of outrage twisting their elven friend's beautiful face into a terrifying snarl. "Let us collapse this mine. Vir Dirthara… the Shattered Library awaits us. Hopefully the Viddasala herself will meet us there. I cannot wait for her to face the full force of an elf's wrath."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 _The Deep Roads_

"These gaatlok primers appear to be rather simple to use," Briala remarked as the group of five hurried back across the large stone bridge from the central supply. "I would suggest using them just in case exploding the gaatlok casks with your magic isn't enough to destroy the mine."

"How do they work, then?" Riona asked, following Merrill's determined lead. "How much time would we have after you prime the gaatlok to explode?"

"I can't know for certain, but my guess would be give or take five minutes," Briala shrugged. "It should be enough to see us safe on the other side of the mine."

"I don't know," Riona argued. "What if we get into a more serious scrap with the qunari? We could be delayed too much and then be blown up with the rest of the mine."

"We won't be delayed," Merrill spoke in a steely voice.

"If we skirt the outer edge of the mine the same way we came here, we should be able to avoid most of the qunari," Celene pointed out, the empress walking at the back, as always observing everything with her scrutinizing and cool icy-blue eyed stare.

"I see that Briala really wants to use those primers," Riona chuckled, shaking her head. "Fine, fine, go for it."

During the ensuing flight from the qunari mine, Briala quickly set up the gaatlok primers on the mining platforms on the side of the mine the three mages would not be able to reach with their spells from the ledge where the former templar Jerran had made his camp. With two platforms set to explode in a few minute's time, the group of five hurried as quickly as they could to find safety across the second bridge connecting the two sides of the mine, hoping that the qunari defenders would not delay their escape. Much to their relief, amidst the frenzied work schedule and the cacophony of sounds echoing through the mine, the qunari were still largely unaware of the incursion and thus failed to react, save for a small group on the bridge which had discovered the previous group of guards having been wiped out by some mysterious attackers.

Still, a small patrol of four qunari soldiers was no match for a group that included three powerful mages, and they were especially unprepared for containing Merrill's rage, the elven mage barely leaving anything for the others to aim at as her blood magic empowered spells tore into the qunari patrol and without losing barely any time the five rushed across the bridge, finishing off their opponents on the fly as they passed by them. The first of Briala's prepared explosions went off as they were still a few flights of stairs away from the ex-templar's camp, followed by the second explosion almost immediately afterwards, courtesy of the Marquise's excellent timing.

"I don't think it will be enough," Celene remarked once they had reached the ledge, observing the result of the explosions. Aftershocks were lightly rocking the ground below their feet and the streams of water pouring into the mine from high above appeared to have intensified, but not significantly enough.

"This is where we mages step in, Your Highness," Bethany smiled, turning to look at Merrill. "Well, you wanted to hit the central supply, Merrill… show us how you intend to do that, because I can't even see that other bridge from over here."

Merrill did not reply, only smirked a little as she extended her staff and a spark of green light jumped from it, like the magic of the Anchor. The spark floated across to the other side of the mine, disappearing from their sight soon afterwards, but then a massive explosion resounded from beyond their sight, Merrill's magic somehow finding the barrels of gaatlok and igniting them. "I inscribed an arcane rune on one of those casks while you weren't looking," Merrill then chuckled at her dumbstruck audience. "It pulled upon my magic and guided it to the target. Easier than easy."

"Uh, alright…" Bethany blinked, then poking her equally distracted sister in the ribs. "Want to take that mining platform, Ri? I'll hit the bridge after you're done."

"Of course," Riona shrugged, turning to face the mining platform they had prepared to be lit up with their spells, and moments later a massive firewall grew on the platform, covering nearly all its surface and causing the gaatlok barrels to burst with tremendous force that knocked Merrill down to the ground and sent Celene toppling into Briala's arms. The cavern was by now shaking dangerously and the roar of water crashing down became almost deafening. "You might want to hurry, Beth," the older of the Hawke siblings winked.

"On it," Bethany nodded, looking on at how some of the qunari had finally realized what was happening, running as fast as they could to reach the bridge and make it across and to safety, something that was not in their interests to allow. While Bethany was not as proficient with fire spells as her sister, it still presented her no difficulties to summon a roaring fireball that struck the gaatlok collected on the bridge and destroy the stone structure together with some of the qunari already on the bridge, leaving those following behind stranded and looking on at the collapsed bridge in despair as water levels in the mine were by now rising very rapidly.

"I'm almost feeling sorry for the poor bastards," Riona shook her head, watching some of the qunari throwing themselves into the churning waters out of despair, trying to swim to the other side, but in short order getting swallowed by the rising depths.

"Try to remember that they destroyed the Winter Palace, killing hundreds as they did so," Celene remarked, obviously appearing less sympathetic.

"Good point," Riona coughed, looking on with worry as the other side of the mine was getting obliterated by massive chunks of rock falling in from the roof of the cavern, more and more streams of gushing water crashing down from above. "By the way, it's not all that safe on this side either… that water is rising awfully quickly," she pointed out.

"Yes, so let's be off," Bethany nodded, urging the others to rush back through the already explored passageways towards the eluvian that would take them back to safety in the Crossroads. "I wonder if Jerran made it out alright," she mused while running up yet another flight of stairs.

"Irrelevant," Celene shrugged, together with Briala at the head of the group, followed by Merrill, then Riona and finally Bethany, becoming a little winded and struggling to keep up. "He chose his fate when he joined the Qun."

"For once I agree with the empress," Merrill muttered, looking rather disinterested in the fate of the former templar. "We have more important things to worry about," she added, as the five of them finally reached the eluvian and dove through, escaping the inevitable destruction of the qunari occupied elven lyrium mine.

Back at the Crossroads, the group took a little breather to recover from their frenzied escape, but eventually all eyes began to turn towards Merrill. "I am pleased that we managed to stop the qunari lyrium operation here, but this still provided us with no explanation about their motives for attacking the South," Celene spoke up eventually.

"Yes, and with the knowledge of how to mine lyrium they will simply start again elsewhere," Briala said, also looking at Merrill. "You mentioned having a lead, Merrill. Perhaps we can find more information there?"

"Yes, Vir Dirthara, or the Shattered Library," Merrill nodded. "The qunari were studying a tome recovered from the library, which means that they have been there."

"Then you need to take us there," Celene spoke insistently. "Can you do that?" she asked, after Merrill had not produced an immediate answer.

"Yes… and no," the elf replied mysteriously, something that did not appear to sit well with Celene.

"What do you mean?" the empress demanded.

"I mean that I _can_ take you there, but… I won't," Merrill said, staring down Celene with an almost provoking smirk on her lips. "I can only allow Bethany and Riona to enter Vir Dirthara with me."

"We might need Her Highness and Lady Briala with us if we are to defeat the qunari," Bethany interjected, trying to ease the tension, a little surprised about Merrill's stipulations.

"I still cannot allow it," Merrill shrugged. "They cannot be trusted with the treasures of Vir Dirthara."

"This is foolish, Merrill," Briala shook her head. "The qunari nearly killed us. We deserve to know why they would do something like that!"

"Riona and Bethany can tell you all about the plots of the qunari afterwards," Merrill replied. "You are still not coming to Vir Dirthara with us."

"This is not your decision to make," Celene protested. "I demand that you take us there!"

"Or what?" Merrill laughed. "You're not the queen of me. I don't have to listen to anything you say, Celene," she added with insulting familiarity that made blood rush to the pale faced woman's cheeks.

"I think we should all calm down and discuss this rationally," Bethany exclaimed, physically stepping in between the two parties to prevent the situation from escalating further. "Perhaps Merrill's suggestion isn't all that unreasonable. Your Highness, perhaps you should not endanger yourself any further by fighting the qunari in close quarters. A single slipup, and Orlais would be left leaderless and descending into chaos."

"Good luck, I've tried to tell her that from the start and got nowhere," Briala muttered.

"I appreciate your concern, First Enchanter, but I have not made it this far only because of my ability to outplay my opponents in the Grand Game," Celene frowned. "I can and I have gotten my hands dirty plenty of times, as Briala can attest to," she added, her lover wincing a little at that, unable to argue the point.

"Another thing you should keep in mind, Your Highness, is that in your absence Orlais might already be deteriorating into chaos," Bethany pointed out. "Everyone believes you dead, and while for the moment it might provide you with a strategic advantage, how many lives are you willing to see lost in the struggle for succession to the throne?"

"Lady Bethany does bring up a good point," Briala nodded, sensing a chance to convince Celene to back down. "The knives would have been out the moment the news broke, you know how these things work. The streets of Val Royeaux and Halamshiral might be red with blood by now. Can you in good conscience let it continue?"

"We promise to explain everything we have learned about the qunari plot at the first opportunity, Your Highness," Riona added, seeing that Celene was still having some doubts.

"I trust you, Champion, and I trust your sister," Celene said, then turning to face Merrill. "But I don't trust this insolent elf. Just what do you know about her? Who is she working for and what is her agenda?" she demanded.

"She's an old friend and can be trusted," Bethany replied heatedly, deep down desperately trying to believe her own words and hoping that what she was saying was still the truth.

"You might know her, First Enchanter, but I don't," Celene shrugged. "I have little reason to trust her."

"And I don't feel like wasting any more time in trying to prove the honesty of my motives to you," Merrill retorted as a burst of magic suddenly sprang from her outstretched hands, knocking both Celene and Briala several paces away and leaving the pair all tangled up on the ground. Before anyone could react, a magical barrier of swirling green suddenly began to grow and stretch across the narrow passage of the Crossroads they had ended up in, blocking Celene and Briala off from the rest of the group. By the time the pair had recovered it was already too late to breach the barrier and they were irreversibly separated from the others, left to find their own path through the Crossroads. As if the barrier alone was not enough, thick and thorny vines sprouted out around it, impenetrable to their enchanted daggers, the needle-sharp growths forcing Celene and Briala to retreat and seek their own way out.

"This Vir Dirthara must truly be something if you don't want Celene and Briala to see it this badly," Riona remarked, looking a little astonished at Merrill handling two of the most influential individuals not merely in Orlais but in the whole of Thedas with such casual impunity.

"Oh, believe me, it is a sight you will never forget," Merrill replied with an amicable smile. "As for why I didn't want Celene and Briala there… in the end, they will always have their own selfish motivations closer at heart than the interests of the People. Despite what Briala has already done for the elves, I cannot trust her to misuse the power and knowledge that can be found in the Shattered Library. Not to mention the danger of her sharing these secrets with Celene, whom I have no reason to trust whatsoever."

"I don't think Riona or myself would exactly trust Celene," Bethany replied. "She's a politician above everything else, and you trust a politician at your peril. Still, out of them all, she is the rare one with some good policies… but I understand your decision, Merrill, and I'm fine with it."

"I'm glad to hear it, Bethany," Merrill smiled at her softly, before her grin became full of excitement. "Now… follow me, and I will lead you to a place of wonder and knowledge you have never seen before!"

* * *

 _Vir Dirthara_

The Shattered Library certainly lived up to its name, when after what felt like several hours of aimless wandering around the Crossroads, Merrill finally led them to a remote eluvian and activated it with means only available to her, granting them entrance to Vir Dirthara. The library hall Bethany, Riona and Merrill emerged in was massive in size, walls lined with bookcases filled with ancient tomes, but the farther end of the hall seemed to have been violently severed in a dramatic catastrophe that had destroyed much of the place. Parts of the library that had been ripped away could be seen nearby, suspended in air like some strange floating islands, some of them accessible by narrow passages hanging above nothingness, but some appeared impossible to reach. The remains of a stairway at the end of the grand hall seemed to be leading downwards, but observing the scenery from the entrance, Bethany and Riona could not truly comprehend the scope of this place.

"This is… certainly astonishing," Bethany remarked, looking around the ancient library. "And this is all filled with ancient lore of the People?" she turned towards the impatiently nodding Merrill. "I guess I can see why you didn't think Celene and Briala worthy of seeing this place," Bethany finally conceded. _And I imagine that Solas would have disapproved as well. I can understand Merrill not wanting to fail whatever test she's being put through._

"Indeed," Merrill nodded curtly, appearing rather anxious. "I wish we would have time to explore the library, for there is much I could tell you, but we have the Viddasala to find and qunari to stop."

"Umm… Merrill, I don't know how you're not exhausted after everything we've been through today," Riona sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. "But I'm extremely tired, and I can see that Bethany is almost falling asleep on her feet." Bethany was about to protest at that, but remembering how many times she had tripped over her from exhaustion during their journey through the Crossroads she wisely decided against saying anything. "We need rest. At least a couple of hours of sleep to regain some of our strength."

"But the qunari-…" Merrill frowned in protest.

"I don't think you wanted to endanger our lives, did you Merrill?" Riona asked their elven friend and guide, Merrill shaking her head firmly in response.

"In that case, we can just break camp here," Merrill suggested, pointing at a cozy looking corner of the grand hall, the bookshelves arranged in a way to form a secluded private space, almost a makeshift room. "In the meantime, I will go and scout ahead," she said, looking eager to move onwards, trembling a little when she suddenly found Bethany's hand seizing her around the elbow to stop her.

"Merrill, I don't think the qunari are going to react that quickly," Bethany said in an imploring tone of voice. "Remember, nobody got out of the mine alive to report its destruction. If the Viddasala is here, she is not aware of our presence. Why don't you just come and sit down with us? We've barely had a chance to talk, and so much has happened that I feel we should go over…"

"Oh… of course," Merrill nodded, looking down at Bethany's hand around her elbow, appearing a little regretful when Bethany released the hold.

"So, this is not the first time you've been here, Merrill," Riona stated a brief while later as both her and Bethany were busy setting up their sleeping berths before tucking themselves in for a brief but hopefully still refreshing sleep.

"Hardly," Merrill smiled. "I've spent many months here, studying, barely scratching the surface of the lore contained within the tomes here," she explained with a dreamy look on her face. "I was the one who set up this room for myself as a kind of a study…" she said, walking up to an old ironbark desk in one of the corners of the room, sitting down in the sole chair and glancing at the books stacked up on the table, then picking up a pair of thick journals that appeared new compared to the other tomes. "My research notes. Everything of note that I have learned from the books so far."

"How did you find this treasure trove, Merrill?" Bethany asked.

"Solas took me here," Merrill eventually admitted after a lengthy pause. "He wanted me to drink from the source of knowledge itself, not simply hanging on his every word. Most of the time since leaving Skyhold I have spent here, in these crumbling halls, trying to preserve what knowledge I can still salvage."

"Speaking of Solas," Bethany continued, looking up at Merrill from her resting place. "The agent of Fen'Harel. That's him, am I right? Solas is the agent of Fen'Harel." Merrill nodded barely perceptibly. "I mean, it all makes sense now… the way he was acting while he was still with the Inquisition, the jawbone necklace, the evasiveness, the knowledge and the ancient magic he possessed. He serves Fen'Harel, probably as one of the Dread Wolf's most capable agents." Merrill gave Bethany an intense stare without saying anything at that.

"Does that mean you're also an agent of Fen'Harel, Merrill?" Riona asked.

"What?" Merrill blinked, then catching herself. "Oh, well… I wouldn't say so, not as such."

"You're training to become one, aren't you?" Bethany asked. "That's the test. Proving yourself to Fen'Harel."

"That's correct," Merrill admitted.

"Have you seen or met Fen'Harel yourself, Merrill?" Riona continued their combined inquiry.

"I know that he is real," Merrill shrugged.

 _Nice way of not answering the question. Almost Solas-like in reply. I guess he's a good tutor,_ Bethany thought to herself, deciding to change the topic of conversation, seeing as Merrill did not appear particularly happy about having to answer so many questions about Solas and Fen'Harel. "I'm still thinking about the Veilfire rune we found in the mines," she said eventually. "That was such a fortunate discovery. Of course, from the temple of Mythal we already knew that the Creators fought the Titans, but it was still nice to get a confirmation."

"It's clear that Solas would have known about it as well," Riona pointed out. "Why did he never mention anything about the Titans?"

"I don't know," Merrill shrugged. "I can only speculate, but I think he was trying not to disclose too much information so that his immense knowledge would not appear suspicious. And even so, I don't think he was entirely successful at that. I mean, at times he got carried away and told us a great deal."

"Not enough, I still say," Bethany sighed. "So, the elves knew what the Titans were, and they still killed them and mined their blood to fuel their spells, even if their magic was already very potent without lyrium. That's…"

"That's what the Evanuris were willing to do just to retain their influence," Merrill replied. "You know how it goes. Remember the Inquisitor and how quickly he became drunk on his own power? That's what it does. Power and influence, you just want more and more of it. And there were always wars to wage for the Evanuris, against the Forgotten Ones, against each other, thousands and thousands of slaves to keep in check. They were hardly the happy coalition of close friends and family that Keeper Marethari tried to portray them as. They were more like the worst of Tevinter magisters, living in constant fear and paranoia."

"That rune seemed to imply that the Evanuris mining of the Titan's blood did something else, something far worse than that act," Riona mused thoughtfully. "Did you sense the fear and panic of the elves who sealed the passages into the mine? I've never experienced such feelings of dread in my life. What sort of monsters could they have unleashed?"

"I think we all know what sort of monsters we mean when thinking about the Deep Roads," Merrill sighed. "But if you're asking me whether the Evanuris created the Blight… I truly don't know. All I know that it would not be impossible. The defiling of the Titan corpses, perhaps it began a spread of some sort of corruption? It happened so long ago… I wonder if we will ever discover the truth."

"It might be in the books here," Riona nodded, smiling hopefully. "Also, both Mythal and Fen'Harel probably know the truth about the origins of the Blight. Not that I expect them to tell us, but Fen'Harel might tell you, Merrill."

"Who knows," Merrill shrugged uncertainly, as a period of silence settled upon them, temporarily ending the conversation until Merrill spoke up again. "You know… I never even asked the two of you what you've been up to all this time," the elf suddenly exclaimed, slapping a palm across her brow. "I've been so absorbed in this qunari threat that it never occurred for me to ask. Riona… I had to catch up with Solas when he left Skyhold in secret and I never got to offer you my condolences about Nathaniel. I'm so sorry…"

"That's alright, Merrill," Riona smiled faintly. "It was difficult, but I have been able to move on with my life."

"Riona's now living at the Hawke Estate in Kirkwall, together with Morrigan," Bethany explained.

"Oh!" Merrill's eyebrows rose. "That's unexpected! How did you two get together?"

"We're not 'together' together," Riona groaned in frustration. "We're just good friends and I'm helping her hide from Flemeth while we both raise our children. Malcolm is a week senior to Keira, Morrigan's daughter."

"Oh… did you and Nathaniel?" Merrill asked, Riona nodding faintly at that. "Oh, that is so sad for the little one to grow up and not know his father," she sighed, appearing earnestly downcast. "I wonder who's the father of Morrigan's child?" Merrill then asked, full with curiosity.

"She won't even tell me that," Riona shrugged. "And I've learned not to prod. She becomes insufferable if I start pressing her about it."

"Of course, there is a certain book that suggests that my sister is not being entirely truthful about the nature of her relationship with Morrigan," Bethany spoke up with a salacious grin which only widened when Riona glared at her angrily. "Oh, sister, you doth protest too much about it, methinks," she added, laughing before having to dodge a dirty sock that Riona threw at her.

"What book?" Merrill asked, looking at Bethany, then turning to Riona, searching for an explanation.

"Ugh, don't even get her started. Beth, I'm warning you, speak about that book and I'm going to strangle you," Riona growled, turning to address Merrill. "Varric is to blame for this disaster. That dwarf wrote yet another insipid moneymaking tripe. It's preposterous to suggest that there's something like that between me and Morrigan. I don't even find women attractive that way!"

"Well, she is a shape-changer," Merrill pointed out thoughtfully. "I'm sure it could have solved that particular problem."

"Ha! So, you've read that book after all!" Bethany began to laugh aloud.

"Umm… what do you mean?" Merrill blinked.

"Well, that's what Varric implied they were both up to in his book, so…" Bethany spoke, both her and Merrill slowly turning to face Riona, discovering that her sister had gone alarmingly red in the face.

"I'm not going to sit around here and listen to all these slanderous accusations!" Riona shouted, quickly gathering her blankets and then bolting away, still red in the face. "Tell me when you're done behaving like small children!" she exclaimed, fuming in anger as she stomped away to find a new sleeping berth nearby.

"Poor Riona," Bethany shook her head. "I don't know what exactly is going on with her and Morrigan, but I wish she wouldn't feel ashamed about it. I wish she would feel that she can be honest with me and I won't judge her for anything. I've tried to make it clear for her before, but it hasn't helped. "

"I'm sure she'll come around," Merrill smiled fondly at Bethany. "And what about you, Beth? Are you still together with Josephine?"

"Oh yes," Bethany nodded. "We're living in Antiva City with her family. She's busy running the Montilyet trade fleet and the whole growing family empire, while you heard Celene referring to me as the First Enchanter. I'm in charge of the Antiva City Arcane Academy."

"Looks like you've really settled down," Merrill remarked thoughtfully. "Happy?"

"Am I happy?" Bethany repeated, thoughts quickly circling through her head as she recalled her daily life in Antiva. Truthfully, the only sour spot was the strained relationship with Josephine's mother… and maybe some other minor things that she would like to change, but really, in all honesty, who ever saw all their desires and needs being met fully? She was happy for majority of the time, and that was good enough for her. "Yes… yes, I would say that I'm happy in Antiva, Merrill."

"You hesitated for a moment there," Merrill pointed out.

"I did not!" Bethany shook her head vehemently. _Did I? I don't think I did… wait. Wait, is Merrill trying to play head games with me? Merrill, of all people?_

"Of course," Merrill smiled amicably. "Tell me… what is the average day like? It's been so long since I've lead a normal life that I can barely recall what it was like."

"Oh, you know… getting up, enjoying breakfast with the family, then heading off to the academy and spending most of the day there, working with the students, tutoring those who are genuinely interested in controlling and improving their magic," Bethany explained. "Most of the time I stay at the academy until late afternoon, doing some private tutoring for those students who are interested in advanced classes, or grading their theoretical research, that sort of thing. After that, it's a short walk back to the estate, dinner with the family and evening usually shared just by Josie and myself, if I can drag her away from her books and ledgers," she added with a chuckle.

"That does sound very mundane," Merrill remarked. "After everything we've seen and been through together… is that really enough for you? Don't you want more from life?"

"All I've ever wanted was to lead a normal life, Merrill," Bethany smiled, shaking her head. "Not just for myself, but for all the mages of Thedas, and for the moment I feel like I've helped achieve it. So yes, I'm happy with this, as you call it, mundane life."

"I don't know," Merrill frowned, studying her with a scrutinizing stare. "I don't think that one can see what we have seen and then simply walk away from it. Deep down, you must want something more exciting."

"That's where you're wrong, Merrill," Bethany replied, wishing that her rebuttal would have sounded more firm and convincing.

"You keep saying that, but I'm not sure I quite believe you, Beth," Merrill spoke softly, rising to her feet and turning to walk away. "I'm going to scout out the rest of Vir Dirthara now. Sweet dreams, Bethany," she added with a sultry smile as she left, leaving Bethany sitting on her bedroll confused and just a little bit frustrated.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 _Villa Montilyet, Antiva City_

Josephine Montilyet thoughtfully poured herself a third cup of the morning tea as she sat at the desk in her office, having just finished perusing the correspondence delivered to her overnight. In times of crisis such as this, their broad network of informants truly felt like Maker-sent, helping Josephine maintain oversight at almost everything that was going on in Thedas. Of course, the nature of her interests had shifted from purely political to much more mercantile since the days of the Inquisition, and the network had changed to reflect that, but most of her former associates had chosen to remain in her service, and at least a dozen of spies from Bethany's network had also decided to continue working with the couple, gladly providing all sorts of valuable information for a reasonable fee. Even if Josephine was mostly interested in the demands of various markets around Thedas, in many cases, the changes in markets were dictated by local politics, so she made sure to always maintain her finger on the political pulse of Thedas as well, and right now her broader perspective at the overall situation allowed her to notice how some events were connected, while most of the other observers were simply reacting viscerally to what happened only in their near vicinity.

And there certainly was a lot happening throughout Thedas right now. The Forsythias were slowly starting to gain ground in Nevarra as the population now rallied behind them, turning on the Pentaghasts, buying into the claims of the Forsythias that the centuries long rule of the Pentaghast family had led the country to this point where they had been humiliated by the Tevinter Imperium and this destruction of the royal seat in Nevarra City had been made into yet another outcome of the Pentaghast weakness. As the crowds throughout Nevarra turned on their former favorites, many Pentaghasts chose to flee and go into exile, either to Orlais or Antiva, though there were also reports of entire households slaughtered in the streets as they tried to flee. By now, the Pentaghasts had been decisively driven out of the two largest cities, Cumberland and Nevarra City, but they somehow still held on to Hunter Fell and Perendale, though likely not for long.

Josephine did not particularly like the reports coming out of Orlais. By all accounts, Empress Celene and Marquise Briala had perished in the destruction of the Winter Palace, even if bodies had still not been recovered. There were rumors of Celene having named a successor, but the Council of Heralds for some reason had gone silent and refused to bring any names forward. As a result, assassinations throughout the Imperial Court ran rampant as everyone was trying to guess the identity of the royal successor and quickly do them in. Even worse, a faction of hard-line Gaspard sympathizers had crawled out of the woodworks somewhere and were trying to reclaim lost influence, claiming that Celene's weakness and willingness to always play nice and yield to their neighbors had led them to this crisis, wowing to make Orlais great again by restoring the country to the aggressive and imperialistic expansionist power it was always meant to be. In short, the future of Orlais appeared very uncertain, and trade between the two countries already began to reflect it, eating into the profits of House Montilyet.

The Royal Palace of Denerim had also been destroyed in a massive blast, killing hundreds, but Josephine had been spared another personal tragedy when a second report arrived almost immediately after the first, letting her know that King Alistair and Queen Evangeline, seven months into her pregnancy, had survived on the account of pure good luck, having decided to depart on their tour of the Bannorn a day earlier only because Alistair had been eager to spend an extra day of hunting in the Southron Hills. Josephine had been incredibly relieved by these news, as was all of Ferelden. She had no idea what would happen to the long-suffering southern frontier if Alistair and Evangeline had perished in the terrible attack. In any case, Ferelden had been long overdue of a lucky reprieve, and it seemed as if they had certainly gotten one this time around.

Information from the cities of the Free Marches had been slightly more difficult to acquire. It seemed as if there had been some incidents in Starkhaven and Markham, where explosions had decimated at least parts of their respective seats of power, but in the other cities it appeared that these plots had somehow been foiled, and the local governors were doing their best to keep all information suppressed as they performed their own investigations. Curiously, no attacks had been performed on Tevinter soil, and when this information became public knowledge, accusing glares began facing northwards, something that merely made Josephine roll her eyes in frustration. Certainly, this information presented an important clue, but not in a way that everyone else seemed to believe.

As far as the situation in Antiva was concerned, the busy passage of their daily lives only took a tiny pause to pay respects to the late King Fulgeno, his family and the palace staff in a grandiose state funeral, but throughout it all the merchant princes never stopped their wheeling and dealing to keep the country running, already scheming behind closed doors to decide on who to place as the next puppet on the throne to act as an official and ineffectual figurehead of Antiva. This misjudgment of how little the death of the king would affect the lives of Antivans was the second important clue that Josephine had distilled from all of this, and it had been enough to draw her eyes at a worrying culprit that nobody else in Thedas suspected, at least not yet.

Josephine had arranged for her people to recover debris from the blasts in Antiva, Nevarra and Halamshiral, then enlisting services of a Tevinter expert to examine these debris. The results in all three cases had been the same, the source of the blast had been gaatlok, commonly known throughout Thedas as the fearsome blackpowder, an explosive produced and used exclusively by the qunari, removing all doubt about who was behind these attacks. Even though Josephine at first could not see any reason for the qunari to launch such an underhanded attack, she had no reason to doubt her expert, the Tevinter being very closely familiar with the gaatlok and its effects, easily recognizing the familiar traces of the explosive powder in the samples Josephine had provided.

With her worst suspicions confirmed, Josephine was left with the painful choice on whether to use her network to make her discoveries known to the whole of Thedas or not, aware that public knowledge of the truth would imminently lead to a devastating war between the South and the Qunari, with Tevinter likely seeking an alliance with the southerners. The inevitable loss of life was weighing heavily on Josephine's mind and for now it was stopping her from making this information public, though she was not certain for how long she could continue hiding the truth. _Maybe only for as long as Bethany returns,_ she thought to herself as she rose from her seat and approached the window offering a beautiful view at the gardens below. _It's not a coincidence that Merrill's letter arrived when it did and then all of this started happening. Whatever Merrill needed help with, must relate to the qunari plot… so before I make my own move, I should give Bethany, Riona and Merrill the opportunity to finish whatever it is they are up to. They always find a way to fix things against all odds, so perhaps we can still avert a full-scale war._

 _I just hope that it doesn't take too much time, because I'm starting to miss you a great deal, love,_ Josephine thought with growing sadness as she observed the scene down in the garden, Yvette and little Constance trying to give Bethany's pet fennec Ser Fluffsworth a much-needed bath, but not having much success with it. If anything, the only one still dry was the sneaky fennec, while Yvette and Connie looked soaking wet from all the water splashing around. At least listening to Connie's happy laughter did Josephine's heart good, especially after a couple of days ago she had eventually succeeded in getting through to Connie when explaining that her parents were not simply gone for a while, the girl finally appearing to understand that her mommy and daddy would never be coming back from their ill-fated sea voyage. The little girl had been inconsolable for a long while afterwards, and Josephine had been trying her best to cheer her up, whispering her things that she honestly had no right to promise, not without consulting Bethany first, but she desperately hoped that her beloved would feel the same way as she did about the little orphan girl. _I know you'll love her, Bethany… and Connie needs more love than I alone can give, especially now. Just come home to us safely, and Maker be willing, perhaps with time we can become a proper family…_

* * *

 _Vir Dirthara_

Bethany had no idea about how much time had passed since she had fallen asleep in the strange Veil-torn elven library, but she woke up feeling greatly refreshed and eager to face the challenges of the day, hoping to start with the exploration of their remarkable and unique surroundings. With no Riona or Merrill anywhere in sight, Bethany took the opportunity to change into a fresh set of underclothes before donning her robe and then searching her bags for some of the remaining rations, the delicious pine nut and olive bread they had bought from the Orlesian farmers. Before starting to look around for Riona or Merrill, Bethany decided to finish her improvised breakfast, taking a seat at Merrill's research table and starting to leaf through her translations as she munched on the bread and occasionally took sips from her water flask to wash it down.

Soon enough, Bethany was so immersed in reading Merrill's translations of more accurate and authentic legends of the Creators that she even forgot about her meal, the bread set aside and forgotten for the moment. To read through everything that Merrill had translated would require several days at least, but even the first few glimpses were fascinating enough, such as the story she was currently reading, describing the building of a monument celebrating Elgar'nan's victory over the enemies of the Evanuris, further underlining the vanity, cruelty and arrogance of the Creators as hundreds and hundreds of elven slaves perished in making Elgar'nan's victory eternal. There were more stories that Merrill had collected about Elgar'nan, all painting him as very bloodthirsty and warlike, with Mythal constantly having to try and reign him in. One of the stories told focused on a bloody conflict between Elgar'nan and Falon'Din, Mythal managing to avoid a war amongst the Evanuris only by arranging a duel between champions of the 'gods', a duel that ended in the victory for Elgar'nan's champion and forced Falon'Din to bow down to the leader of the Evanuris.

With bated breath, Bethany flipped through the pages in search of something particularly interesting and salacious, stopping when she suddenly noticed a name she had never expected to see in Merrill's research journal, starting to read the entry under the title that Merrill had put down as 'The Exile of the Forbidden Ones'. "For abandoning the People in their time of greatest need, for casting aside form to flee to where the Earth could not reach, we declare Xebenkeck and others of her ilk exiled from the lands of the Evanuris. Beware! Their familiarity with shape allows them to travel paths unaided. They may be bound, but only the protection of your gods will fully shield you from their malice. They are Forbidden from the Earth that is our right," Bethany read aloud as if transfixed, unsure what to make of this brief piece of text that Merrill appeared to have left unfinished. _What does it all mean? Xebenkeck dragged Merrill through the eluvian in Kirkwall, so maybe I should prod her about this… she might know more than she has put down on the parchment here,_ Bethany thought, not noticing that someone else had entered the secluded place where they had made their camp, only rearing her head to answer after Riona had startled her with a greeting.

"Oh… good morning, Ri," Bethany uttered hastily, closing Merrill's journal and only then noticing her abandoned breakfast, quickly returning her attention to it. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, surprisingly so," Riona nodded. "What about you?"

"Same here, I don't usually sleep so well," Bethany replied. "Umm, listen Ri… I feel like I should apologize about yesterday. I shouldn't have teased you like that."

"It's fine," Riona shrugged. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did." Bethany desperately wanted to ask her sister why she had reacted that way, but something told her that she should for once keep her mouth shut and wait for her sister to speak on her own terms, Riona continuing after a lengthy period of silence. "I shouldn't feel ashamed about these implications, whether there is something behind it all or not," she said. "The way I feel and react is on me, not on anyone else. I need to deal with it."

 _So, something did indeed happen between her and Morrigan. If only I knew what,_ Bethany thought to herself. "You know you can talk to me about anything, Ri," she spoke softly. "Despite evidence to the contrary, I can be serious when it is required."

"I know, Beth," Riona smiled at her. "But this is something that I really need to figure out myself. Besides, this is neither time nor place for soul-searching."

"If you're certain," Bethany gave her sister a concerned stare.

"I'm certain," Riona nodded confidently. "There are far more interesting things to find in this library and I already stumbled onto something that I need to show you. So, finish your breakfast and come with me… I promise that this will blow your mind."

"Good to go," Bethany smiled before shoving the last bits of bread into her mouth, then rising from her seat and wiping the crumbs off from her robes. Shortly afterwards, Riona was leading her through the library towards a hole in its outer wall, the pair emerging onto a ledge that was about three yards wide, providing a slightly frightening but overall comfortable path around the outer wall of the library, Bethany only now able to observe that what remained of the grand entrance hall of the Shattered Library also stood on one of the many floating islands that occupied this part of the land between the Fade and the mortal realm.

"Anything interesting in Merrill's notes?" Riona asked as she led her sister forward, turning around the corner to reach the back of the grand hall.

"I'm sure there is, though I only skimmed the surface. I found something that I'm going to ask Merrill about later, I think you will find it very interesting," Bethany replied, as the pair came up to a small campsite behind the library, looking almost like an enchanter's workplace, both sisters instantly recognizing the familiar equipment. "Anyway, what's so interesting about this campsite?" she asked her older sibling.

"The journal down there by the campfire," Riona pointed at the leather-bound tome nearby, grinning as she watched Bethany snatching it in a hurry, her sister's eyes widening after she had opened the journal to discover that all the entries inside consisted of a single word, namely 'enchantment'.

"Sandal? Sandal was here?" Bethany gasped, shaking her head in disbelief. "You know… in a way, I think it almost makes sense, because there were things about him that suggested he was… connected to something else than just the realm of mortals. But how would he have found his way here?"

"Maker only knows," Riona shrugged. "I agree that in a way it almost makes sense. It seems as if he had come here to study… enchantment?"

"It certainly seems like that. Did you see any sign of Bodahn?" Bethany asked, Riona shaking her head. "This seems like a place where Bodahn could not follow Sandal, I suppose. I just hope that old dwarf is alright," Bethany sighed, Riona nodding in agreement. "But look at this… even though almost all the entries are the same, Sandal has managed to keep a track of time in this place? I wonder how he did that. If his notes are accurate, then he would have arrived here at the end of 9:41 Dragon and left early in 9:42… before we had defeated Corypheus."

"So, he would have been gone before Merrill and Solas came here," Riona mused thoughtfully. "Speaking of Merrill, where is that elf? We're not going to get far without her."

"Perhaps we should return to the library and start looking for her from there," Bethany suggested, Riona agreeing with a yet another nod.

Having prepared themselves to resume their strange adventure, the Hawke sisters left their makeshift camp to walk over to the other end of the massive entrance hall of the Shattered Library, where the walls had completely given way, having been scattered throughout this odd realm together with the invaluable bookshelves and their contents. There was only one path which led away from the larger floating island upon which the entrance hall of the library stood, a wide elven stairway with large statues of bronze guardian avian creatures at the top and the bottom of the stairs, however, these did not appear elven at all, in fact Riona and Bethany keenly remembered them as common features in Kirkwall, remnants of the city's Tevinter origins. With Merrill nowhere in sight, the two sisters exchanged questioning stares before descending the stairs towards a narrow rubble-strewn path connecting two of the floating islands, a rickety bridge stretching across the bottomless gap.

"Wait a moment," Riona spoke up as soon as they had reached the bottom of the stairs, grabbing Bethany's arm.

"Don't worry, I feel it too," Bethany smiled at her sister, having sensed a vague shift in the Fade nearby, peering around until she noticed a barely visible golden red outline of a benevolent spirit, observing them. "Show yourself," she addressed the spirit in a kind voice. "We are not here to harm you."

At her encouragement, the glowing outline of the spirit began to materialize, becoming slightly more visible, though the vaguely feminine voice still felt rather disembodied when the spirit addressed them. "My apologies, gentle visitors," the spirit intoned. "I have been derelict in my duty to welcome noble patrons to this place of learning. The halls are open for your perusal."

"A librarian spirit?" Riona smiled. "Well, I guess there's a first time for everything."

"Can you tell us what is this place?" Bethany asked. "We know it is called Vir Dirthara, but what was it for the elves? Merely a library or something more?"

"The Vir Dirthara is the living knowledge of the Empire," the spirit replied. "The libraries of every city, the wisdom of every court flows through Vir Dirthara. It is a connecting place, but its paths are in disarray."

"We can see that," Riona sighed, looking around. "What caused this disaster?"

"The Vir Dirthara was made with world and Fade," the spirit attempted to explain. "When they sundered, so did we. Paths broke. Knowledge fragmented. Many were trapped. I preserve their last words."

"Looks like this might have been caused by some catastrophic event, like the creation of the Breach," Bethany mused, looking around at the collection of many floating islands and the debris suspended in the air around them.

"Perhaps the same event that brought the Empire of Arlathan to its knees?" Riona shrugged. "Still, that doesn't help us any right now."

"True enough," Bethany nodded, turning her attention back to the glowing spirit. "You were apprehensive about approaching us. Why?"

"My apologies, honored patron," the spirit lamented. "Some of the recent visitors to Vir Dirthara have been of the unruly sort. I regret to inform you that they are still present on the premises. They congregate by the lower entrance. I would advise you to keep your distance from them."

"What can you tell us about these visitors?" Bethany asked. "Were they large creatures, taller than the elves, sporting horns? Did they call each other qunari?"

"Yes, I overheard that name," the spirit informed them regretfully. "These brutes destroyed the paths behind them. Repairing the bridges will be no small task."

"Did you see the leader of these qunari, good spirit?" Bethany asked the distressed library host. "A large woman named Viddasala."

"Viddasala. Yes," the spirit replied, sounding a little fearful. "She uses scholars and mages for study. They fear this place, but they seek to know the Veil?"

"The Veil?" Riona blinked. "We've already repaired it. If they wanted to help against Corypheus, they are a couple of years late." The spirit merely turned towards Riona, but said nothing, probably because it had no more information on the Viddasala's motives.

"Do you know an elven woman who used to study here?" Bethany asked then. "She goes by the name of Merrill. Have you seen her recently?"

"Mistress Merrill," the spirit appeared pleased at the mere mention of their elven friend. "She helped to reunite me after I was sundered from myself. She has done wonders in trying to restore Vir Dirthara, and now these interlopers seek to ruin it. I believe Mistress Merrill intends to stop them. If you were to help her, you would have our gratitude."

"Did she pass this way recently?" Bethany asked, pointing at another stairway, leading up to the next in a chain of connected floating islands.

"Yes, she-…" the spirit began, but then stopped abruptly. "My apologies," it whispered before fading from view.

"What scared her?" Riona wondered, looking around and then backing away a little together with Bethany when they noticed that another spirit had materialized behind them, this one a ghostly form dressed in the serenely elegant armor of the elven sentinels, cowl covering the spirits head, but the pale face under the hood appeared like it belonged to a human youth, an unruly lock of pale blond hair sticking out from under the cowl.

"I think it was me," the newcomer spirit sighed. "Merrill might have put the Archivist back together, but she will never be the same again. Most things that have been sundered and lost can no longer be recovered. Even I could not heal the Archivist."

"And what are you?" Bethany asked the new spirit. "Another friend of Merrill's?"

"Oh yes," the spirit nodded. "And a friend of yours as well… at least I had hoped…"

"Wait…" Riona blinked, looking at her sister. "Do you know this spirit?"

"I'm not sure," Bethany mused thoughtfully, fingers of her right hand insistently rubbing her left wrist which for some reason had started to itch uncontrollably. "Wait a moment," she exclaimed, having tugged on the sleeve of her robe to uncover the small tattoo that she had almost forgotten about. "Cole?" she whispered, peering at the spirit in front of them, trying to recognize the youthful, pale face, memories slowly starting to flow back to her. "Cole, is that really you? You look different… what happened?"

"I… changed," Cole admitted, sounding a little uncomfortable.

"Have you been corrupted?" Riona asked guardedly. "You don't appear malevolent. I don't sense ill intent from your nature."

"Not all change leads to corruption," Cole replied defensively. "I agreed to this. They warned me that it might happen if I were to follow them, but I insisted. But I was wrong… I hoped that I could change them, heal them, but… they were stronger, like they warned they would be. I tried to remain myself, but I could not. They were too intent, too focused… too purposeful."

"Who? Who changed you?" Riona demanded.

"I think I know," Bethany sighed. "You left Skyhold to follow Solas and Merrill, didn't you? You've been with them all this time, haven't you?" Cole nodded serenely at that. "And they unwittingly changed you from Spirit of Compassion into… into what? What is your nature now, Cole?"

"I already answered," Cole smiled sadly. "I am a Spirit of Purpose. Their purpose."

"But what is their purpose? What do Merrill and Solas want?" Riona asked. "You make it sound almost sinister."

"I cannot say," Cole replied predictably. "But you can trust Merrill. She wants to stop the qunari. And she would never do anything to harm you. She wanted you to be here and see all this, even if he disapproved. He thought she should tackle her test alone, but we managed to convince him. Without Merrill, you wouldn't even be here, you wouldn't know what is happening."

"I'm not sure we know that even now," Riona sighed. "All we know is that we have been drawn into plots not of our making… which I suppose is a fairly standard occurrence for us."

"Well, if you can't tell us anything about what Solas and Merrill are planning, then I guess we'll just have to stick it out and hope we get our answers in the end," Bethany shrugged. "I mean, it's not like we have much of a choice here, do we?" she asked, looking at her sister.

"I guess I have to agree," Riona nodded, then turning back towards Cole. "Do you know where Merrill is? Can you take us to her?"

"Of course, she went ahead to search for a path across," Cole replied. "I will accompany you to her… and I shall remain nearby. My assistance might be required against the qunari."

"Thank you, Cole," Bethany smiled at the spirit as he led them up the next stairway and towards the next floating island, which appeared to have been at the very epicenter of the sundering that had struck Vir Dirthara. All the elven structures here had been reduced to tiny chunks of rubble, forcing the sisters to navigate parts of pathways that had somehow managed to endure. As Bethany looked around, she noticed two intact eluvians, one on a tiny floating island that was not connected to the others in any way, and thus currently out of their reach, while the other was at the very center of the devastated island, down a flight of stairs, surrounded by piles of rubble, Bethany breathing a sigh of relief when she spotted Merrill pacing in front of the eluvian, angrily muttering to herself.

"Maker…" Bethany heard her sister whispering by her side and grabbing her arm just as she was about to dash down the stairs towards Merrill. "Look at that, Beth!" Riona exclaimed, forcing her sister to turn her head and look ahead, into the misty nothingness. "Not there… there!" Riona corrected, placing her gloved fingers under Bethany's chin for a gentle push, forcing her sibling to look upwards, Bethany instantly making a sharp intake of breath as something truly mind-shattering opened to her eyes, so surreal that it almost hurt for her mind to try and comprehend it. Above them, another island floated, featuring what was clearly the largest part of the library complex, a layer of seven or eight floors carved open like a slice of cake by the sundering. The most horrifying part of the view was that the island was floating above them while being upside down, and thus made it seem like it was about to fall on top of them at any moment. Even more strangely, they could easily make out small shapes of the invading qunari walking around on the upside down floating island, and yet defying gravity and not falling off from its surface.

"Ugh, my head is spinning… I can't even look at it," Bethany groaned, turning her eyes away.

"I know what you mean," Riona nodded, also averting her eyes. "This place is clearly more affected by the Fade than the rest of the Crossroads. You can feel it in almost everything, and now in this. Normal rules of physics don't always seem to apply."

"Maybe Merrill will be able to shed some light," Bethany said, pointing at the elven mage pacing impatiently down below, urging Riona to descend the rubble-covered stairway to rejoin their friend.

"Ah… you've met each other, I see," Merrill spoke up when she noticed them arriving and spotting Cole at the back of the small group. "Good… that's good."

"What's going on, Merrill?" Bethany asked. "I was a little worried about you pulling off another disappearing act."

"What? No, never…" Merrill firmly shook her head. "I would have sent Cole to fetch you, but for now there was no need as I find myself stumped," she said, glaring a little at the eluvian. "I'm sure you've by now noticed where we must go."

"If you mean that huge and creepy upside-down island, then yes, we have noticed it," Riona sighed.

"The eluvian that connects to it is beyond our reach. Currently," Merrill spoke, pointing vaguely in direction of the eluvian on the smaller island which the two Hawke sisters had deemed inaccessible. "I did not believe the qunari to be crafty enough to destroy the magical bridge leading up to it, but it appears as if they have learned much during their short stay here," the elven mage admitted reluctantly.

"Can we fix the bridge, Merrill?" Bethany asked.

"I think so, but to do that we must enter this eluvian…" Merrill sighed, pointing at the magical mirror in front of her. "And the qunari have done something unthinkable. They have changed the way it is activated."

"They are irritatingly fast learners," Riona groaned at the unwelcome news.

"Tell me about it," Merrill nodded before pointing at the rubble covered ground nearby. "So, take a comfortable seat while I figure out how to reactivate the eluvian. And arm yourselves with patience, because this… this might take a while."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 _Vir Dirthara_

"This is starting to become annoying," Merrill sighed, breaking off the channeling of magical energy into the inactive eluvian and stepping away from the unresponsive mirror. "I feel like I'm on the right path and the key is somewhere close within my reach, and yet it continues to elude me."

"Perhaps a small break is in order?" Bethany suggested, together with Riona sitting on a large slab of an overturned stone pillar nearby as they watched their friend work, Cole occasionally appearing nearby as if to check on them, disappearing just as quickly.

"Perhaps it is, at that," Merrill nodded reluctantly, walking up to the two sisters and gratefully accepting the flask of water Riona held out for her. "I just need to refocus my thoughts," she said, perching down on a smaller boulder nearby.

"So, Merrill… I couldn't stop myself from browsing your research notes for a bit," Bethany confessed a while later. "I hope that's alright with you?"

"It's why I left them out there in the open," the elf winked at her. "Find anything interesting?"

"How about everything?" Bethany chuckled. "But I wanted to ask you about one specific thing." Merrill peered at her curiously, urging her former lover to continue. "Xebenkeck and her ilk. I found that entry to be particularly fascinating, and yet it didn't tell me as much as I would have liked. I know that she whisked you from Kirkwall through the eluvian, so you must know more about her than you put down in the journal."

"I have some theories that I have not committed to the parchment, that is true," Merrill admitted.

"I've always wondered if there's a connection between the Forgotten Ones and the Forbidden Ones," Riona remarked. "It almost felt as if they're one and the same?"

"It's hard to say," Merrill scrunched up her face as she pondered upon her reply. "Perhaps there is some overlap there? I mean, the Evanuris fought many distinct groups of challengers over the lengthy period of their tyrannical rule over the People. You don't really think that the Forbidden Ones or the Forgotten Ones would call themselves that, right? It's the way they've been branded by the victors of those conflicts. Perhaps the Forbidden Ones were just an offshoot, a splinter group of the Forgotten Ones? I don't know."

"Your translation implied that the Forbidden Ones did something…" Bethany suggested. "I'm not sure what it is that they did, though. Cast aside their form? Fled to where the Earth could not reach? What does that even mean?"

"I'm not sure… I can only offer wild theories," Merrill shrugged. "Do you remember the legend about Andruil's madness?" Bethany nodded quickly at that. "She entered a place called the Void which slowly twisted her sanity. I believe that might be where the Forbidden Ones fled. I still don't know what this Void is, but… it almost appears as if Fade is not the only source from which one gifted with magic can draw great power from. The Void seems to offer something similar, but perhaps at a greater cost? In any case, we no longer know how to draw from the Void, and that is probably for the best… but it seems as if these Forbidden Ones somehow learned how to harness the power of the Void."

"Scary," Bethany muttered, shuddering a little. "Probably not related to our situation, though."

"Not really," Merrill smiled at her. "It's worth remembering, however, that the Forbidden Ones are not bound by anything, and could be influencing the events of Thedas with us being none the wiser."

"Do we know anything about their goals or motivations?" Riona wondered.

"I certainly don't," Merrill shrugged. "Another thing… for a long time I thought that when Xebenkeck dragged me through the Crossroads and then used Morrigan's blood to enter that strange city-realm, I was certain that she had entered the Arlathan of old. I'm still ashamed when I remember how sorely I was tempted to finish off Morrigan and follow Xebenkeck there. But now… now I'm certain that it would have been a very bad idea to follow her. I believe that Xebenkeck was seeking for a way to return to the Void."

"So, this Void could be accessible from somewhere in the Crossroads?" Bethany mused, looking around the strange realm of floating islands, her head starting to spin a little when her gaze lingered too long upon the tiny shapes of the qunari, scurrying around on the surface of the upside-down island.

"Perhaps, but I'm not exactly eager to find out," Merrill shrugged, getting up to her feet again and approaching the eluvian with a determined look on her face. And indeed, not even a few minutes later, Merrill's persistence paid off as the surface of the eluvian began to shimmer and it once again became active to be used. "There… I knew I was close," the elf nodded in satisfaction.

"Where did you say this eluvian was leading, Merrill?" Riona asked as together with Bethany they also got up to their feet and approached the activated mirror, ready to take the next step in their strange adventure.

"Over there," Merrill pointed towards a reasonably large floating island to their left, featuring a relatively intact section of the Shattered Library. "Don't worry," she smiled at the two sisters. "It should be safe. Mostly. I hope." And with that she submerged into the eluvian's surface, leaving the others with no other choice than to follow.

Once Bethany and Riona regained their senses following the short eluvian jump, they found themselves in a large hall in the shape of a perfect square, countless torn and singed parchments strewn about the place whichever way they looked. In the middle of the hall, there stood a single decorative tree statue the kind of which were common throughout the Crossroads, it's perfectly spherical leafage glowing with the soft green of Veilfire. In one corner of the hall, between the bookshelves, there stood a glowing and active eluvian, while another such mirror was located up a short flight of stairs directly ahead of them. Bethany noted with curiosity that most of the bookshelves in this part of the library had been emptied, and Merrill quickly moved to explain, having picked up on the other woman's questioning stare.

"It was me who removed the books, Bethany," the elf spoke up. "I took them back to the other part of the library where I had set up my study."

"Oh, I see," Bethany smiled at the elf. "Anyway, there doesn't seem to be anything that could help us here, Merrill. Do we have to use one of the other eluvians?" she asked.

"Yes," Merrill nodded, leading them towards the mirror that was up a flight of stairs. "We'll start with this one. Just be careful when you emerge on the other side. Take your time to regain your senses before you start wandering around. There's a reason I've named that place the Sundered Hall."

"Sounds safe," Riona rolled her eyes, following Merrill through yet another eluvian and making sure to follow the elf's advice, that after arriving on the other side they immediately acknowledged as a sound one. The threesome had emerged in some sort of a heavily fortified tower with thick walls, but it was fractured right through the middle and a single careless step could easily send one plummeting into nothingness.

"This way," Merrill said, pointing towards an archway to their left, then taking a sharp turn right to hug the wall as they carefully maneuvered themselves along the narrow ledge, hearts beating rapidly as all as one they tried not to look down into the mists obscuring the height of the fall. A few yards ahead, there was an opening in the wall that finally allowed them to escape the narrow and dangerous ledge, bringing them to a collapsed stairway leading upwards. Merrill quickly and gracefully scaled the fallen rubble, then helping Riona and Bethany climb the steps, reaching out with her arms and pulling the two sisters up the final and steepest part of the scramble.

After a fair bit of climbing, the small group eventually reached the top floor of the tower, a large and open space that was just as badly showered with splintered rubble as the rest of this part of the library. Between the few still standing walls, Bethany could just about make out the glow of yet another eluvian on the other side of the tower, and Merrill set towards it in a determined step, leaving the Hawke sisters to once again follow in her wake, stopping when they came upon a large tiled square in front of the eluvian and a qunari corpse resting a few feet away from the magical mirror, the shock trooper bearing no visible physical injury, but a horrified expression marred the usually emotionless face of a qunari soldier, almost as if to imply that he had died from fear.

"No visible wounds, which only leaves one explanation… magic," Riona concluded, looking at Merrill. "Is Solas here, helping us?"

"It would appear like that," Merrill admitted. "I… would have hoped for him to do more to stop the qunari from despoiling this place. Perhaps even stop them from entering it altogether."

"Perhaps Solas isn't all powerful, Merrill," Bethany spoke softly, though the look that the elf gave her in return almost suggested as if she thought that Bethany had lost her mind.

"Anyway, I guess it's time for more eluvian jumping?" Riona asked, pointing at the next active mirror, about to approach it when the reddish golden-glowing shape of the Archivist spirit suddenly materialized before them, addressing them in a kind, helpful voice.

"Welcome, and listen to the last words of those who walked this place," the fragment of the sundered Archivist spirit spoke. "How could the Dread Wolf cast a Veil between the world that wakes and the world that dreams? The Evanuris will send people! They will save us! When have you last heard from the gods? When the Veil came down, they went silent! What is this Veil? What has Fen'Harel done?"

"What?" Bethany and Riona both exclaimed at once as the words spoken by the Archivist slowly began to sink in. "That's impossible!" Riona almost shouted, shaking her head. "You can't just… create the Veil! It has always been there!"

"Not always," Merrill spoke up quietly, then letting out a sigh at the Archivist. "You silly spirit. That was my surprise to reveal. Now off with you," she waved her hand at the glowing shape and it drifted out of view at her command.

"Do you really want us to believe that what the spirit said is true?" Riona faced Merrill with a hard stare. "And you knew about it? When were you going to tell us, Merrill?"

"Oh, eventually," Merrill shrugged. "I just wanted to see if you could put it together on your own from all the clues that were left lying about."

"That's almost Solas-like in testing us," Bethany remarked. "You really are becoming more and more like him."

"He would find that a compliment, and so do I," Merrill replied. "Anyway, why is it so hard to believe that Fen'Harel could create the Veil? Remember the elven legend about the Dread Wolf sealing away the Creators and the Forgotten Ones. This is exactly how he did it, by creating the Veil that tore their connection to the Fade. Without it, they were powerless, left forever imprisoned in their holds that drew more heavily from the Fade than anything else in the Empire."

"So that's what happened with this place," Riona snapped her fingers as she looked around. "It was built of both Fade and the waking world, and the creation of the Veil sundered it?" Merrill nodded at that.

"That didn't happen just here, Ri," Bethany suddenly realized. "Do you remember what Abelas told us in the temple of Mythal, that the _shemlen_ did not destroy the empire of Arlathan? No… the elves did it themselves, or rather Fen'Harel did it when he created the Veil. Their entire empire was built on their connection to the Fade-…"

"They probably wouldn't have even called it the Fade," Riona interrupted, the realization dawning upon her as well. "I mean, the Fade and the waking world would have been one and the same. What a wondrous world that would have been to live in…"

"I could not agree more," Merrill spoke with a wistful, faraway look on her face.

"I can imagine how difficult it would have been for Fen'Harel to do something like that," Bethany mused thoughtfully. "I mean, he might have succeeded at defeating the Creators and the Forgotten Ones, but at what cost? He not only brought down the elven civilization, he also denied them the connection with the Fade which made them what they were."

"He calls it his greatest mistake," Merrill noted, sadness evident in her voice.

"Does that mean he plans to somehow rectify it?" Bethany asked. "Has he tasked you and Solas to somehow help with that?"

"The Dread Wolf has always held the interests of the People closest to his heart, and in this our motivations are aligned," Merrill replied, a little evasively. "The Qunari invasion threatens everyone, elves included. Just think of how many elven servants would have perished in the explosion of the Winter Palace."

"I suppose that is true," Riona admitted, even if Bethany felt there was more to it than what Merrill had told them. Still, this was not a moment for more inquiries, especially when Merrill was already moving purposefully towards the next eluvian.

"I actually feel as if I need to sit down and take this all in before I'm ready to continue," Bethany muttered, but Merrill either did not or pretended not to hear her, entering the next eluvian without waiting on her and Riona. "But I guess there's no time. Onwards we go, yet again…" she sighed, together with her sister approaching the magical mirror.

"I know what you mean, Beth," Riona nodded in understanding. "I also feel as if my mind has been blown to pieces by this shocking revelation. And yet I can't stop myself from wanting to rush after Merrill… I mean, who knows what other surprises await us down this path? A part of me is dying to find out!"

"I just hope that we won't get hit by the old proverb of curiosity killing the cat," Bethany sighed, together with her sister entering the next eluvian hand in hand, blinking furiously once they emerged on the other side where they found themselves standing on a large balcony with an elegantly carved railing providing a view at another large and almost fully preserved library hall below, this one with many bookshelves overflowing with books.

"I have barely skimmed the surface of all the knowledge contained in this part of the library," Merrill commented as they walked along the stretching balcony. "Only some cataloguing of the tomes and subjects they pertained to, nothing much more than that. I didn't even have the time to bring them over to my study… or perhaps I actually shouldn't do that, I could just set up a new study right here, it seems comfortable enough," the elf mused, appearing excited. "After we have dealt with the qunari, of course."

"Did you find anything interesting?" Riona asked once they had descended the wide staircase from the balcony to the library hall itself. "As fascinating as that bit about Xebenkeck and the Forbidden Ones?"

"Maybe?" Merrill shrugged uncertainly as they walked on. "I remember setting aside one of these tomes as potentially very important," she pointed at a nearby table between the bookshelves, stacks of books placed upon it, each one of the books having a small note added to it, meticulously describing the general topic the tome was covering. "In the days of the ancient Arlathan, every elf was what we would these days call a Dreamer."

"Like Solas," Riona nodded. "And the boy we helped in Kirkwall. Feynriel, wasn't his name?"

"That it was," Bethany smiled. "Anyway, you were saying, Merrill?"

"The Dreamers of Arlathan had explored nearly the entire realm of the Fade, but… not quite everything," Merrill explained. "There are supposedly some regions of the Fade where the Dreamers could not thread… and this book offered instruction on how to reach these deepest regions of the Fade."

"Could those parts of the Fade be this Void, perhaps?" Riona asked.

"It's not impossible, I suppose," Merrill shrugged. "Anyway, if Xebenkeck and her ilk lurk in these deepest parts of the Fade, I'm not so eager to go there, at least not on my own," she said, smiling minutely as her gaze lingered on Bethany, leaving the younger of the siblings wondering whether it had been an invitation for a particularly dangerous adventure together.

"I don't know why anyone would care to go there," Riona shook her head, echoing Bethany's thoughts, but the younger of the siblings decided against voicing her opinion aloud, sensing that Merrill might disagree.

"Power, knowledge, or quite possibly both," Merrill said, then walking up to one of the tables with stacks of books and picking up something that was instantly recognized by both Hawke sisters, a small carved ironwood figurine depicting a howling wolf, identical to the one they had used to repair the bridge to Fen'Harel's sanctuary in the mountain valley. "Can't believe I was using this for paperweight," the elven mage laughed, looking fondly at the figurine.

"But where would we use it?" Bethany asked. "I haven't seen any pedestals with open slots where to insert it… for whatever purpose."

"I haven't seen it either, Beth, but I can make a good guess on where to find something that will match the figurine," Merrill smiled at her. "But to do that, we need to backtrack and then take the other eluvian from the entrance hall."

At Merrill's suggestion, the mage trio made their way back to the perfectly square-shaped hall from earlier and then wasted no time to access the eluvian they had not yet explored, the one that stood in the corner of the entrance hall, between a pair of empty bookshelves. The eluvian jump swiftly brought them to a small floating island nearby, a badly decimated once elegant tower rising atop of the island, not much left of it now. One of the strange decorative trees stood at the base of the tower, surrounded by statues of kneeling elven supplicants, each one of them bearing a Veilfire brazier. Just past this silent ceremony, they could see the remains of a collapsed stairway, providing a challenging path to the upper levels of the tower where they apparently had to go if Merrill's decisive march towards the broken stairway was any indication.

Merrill was far better at scaling the fallen rocks and climbing the collapsed stairs than her human companions, but at least the elven mage stopped now and then to wait and extend a helping hand to the heavily breathing Hawke sisters, making sure they were not left way behind. After a final bit of steep climbing which had ended with Bethany brushing particularly tightly against Merrill after the elven mage had helped her on this last part of the journey, the three of them finally reached the top to come upon a shorter intact staircase with railings on both sides to protect the unwary from falling into nothingness, another active eluvian at the top of the stairs. Still, before they could approach the eluvian and use it, another fragment of the red glowing Archivist spirit drifted into view, blocking their path and causing Merrill to sigh in frustration.

"Welcome. Welcome. Listen to the last words of those who lived past the Fall," the spirit intoned in a saddened voice. "If we get out of here, I will end Fen'Harel! After he held back the sky to imprison the gods, the Dread Wolf disappeared. Lies! We must tear down the Veil! The cities, the pathways… without magic, they're crumbling! You're wasting your time! Fen'Harel's Veil has turned our empire to ruins," the Archivist recounted remnants of vicious arguments between the ancient elves, shocked beyond imaginable by suddenly being stripped from everything they had come to rely on, from something that made up the very core of what they were, their identities.

"Oh, do go away, silly spirit," Merrill glared at the Archivist after it had finished its monologue and began to fade away.

"Well, we already knew all of that," Riona shrugged. "Or could have imagined it from the earlier revelation about the nature of the Veil. I'm guessing that the ancient elves never truly recovered from this sudden shock." Merrill shook her head sadly at that.

"You missed something very important in all of that, Ri," Bethany exclaimed, her eyes wide from a sudden realization. "Did you hear what the spirit said? Fen'Harel held back the sky to imprison the gods. Held back the sky! Tarasyl'an Te'las! The place where the sky was held back! Skyhold! Fen'Harel created the Veil in Skyhold!"

"Remarkable," Merrill gave her a warm smile, looking greatly impressed. "Still as intelligent as you are beautiful, Beth," she added brazenly in a way that made Bethany flush with sudden heat, taking her by surprise.

"Yes, umm… this just explains so much, doesn't it?" Bethany tried to recover quickly, noticing that Riona was eyeing her with a slight frown on her lips. "I thought there was a connection between Solas and Skyhold, and now we know there is one because Solas is an agent of Fen'Harel. He must have somehow manipulated the Inquisitor to lead us there. He must have silenced Sister Dorcas and removed the records from the secret library because they would have implicated his connection with Fen'Harel. And that massive hole under the very foundations of the fortress, result from some explosion many ages ago… that must have been the result from him creating the Veil, a release of tremendous magical energy!"

"Correct on all counts," Merrill nodded, clapping her hands approvingly. "Isn't it the most rewarding feeling in the world when pieces of the puzzle start to fall into their proper places, restoring the tapestry of truth? That is something that continuously drives me forward… and speaking of moving forward, shall we?" she asked, pointing at the eluvian in front of them and receiving two enthusiastic nods of the head in response.

The eluvian took them to another section of what appeared to be the same tower, just as broken and devastated as the rest of the once grand structure. After a short and challenging climb up another shattered staircase, the threesome arrived in a larger hall of which only two walls were left intact, the other two having collapsed under the sudden emergence of the Veil. Broken furniture, rubble from the collapsing walls as well as torn and scattered books covered the floor of the once majestic hall, its surviving walls covered with delicate elven frescoes, the first of their kind they had noticed in Vir Dirthara.

"There's something over here," Riona called out, pointing at an intact desk in the corner of the hall, while Merrill and Bethany were still stuck staring at the frescoes. "Did you come here to study, Merrill?" the older of the sisters asked, pointing at a collection of scattered notes on the desk, clearly not as old as the yellowed pages of the ancient tomes.

"I came here once or twice, but never to study," Merrill shook her head. "Those notes are not mine."

"Then they must belong to the qunari," Riona remarked, picking up the notes and staring at them, but failing to make any sense of them. "There are no words, only some algebraic formulae written down here, and I can't make any sense of that. I imagine neither of you two are particularly strong with the numbers, either," she looked at Bethany and Merrill, receiving two shakes of the head in response. "I thought so," she grumbled reluctantly.

"I can guess what they were researching, though," Merrill mused, tapping a thoughtful finger against her chin. "A way to sabotage the path to the inverted eluvian that leads to the upside-down island and what looks to be the center of their operations here. But we're going to repair the path… at least I hope we can."

"What's the plan, Merrill?" Bethany asked, smiling at the elven mage.

"That's the plan," Merrill replied, pointing upwards, the two Hawke sisters rearing their heads to notice a large stone statue of Fen'Harel looming on a balcony just above them, at the very top of this section of the tower. "One last bit of climbing and we should be able to get to the statue," the elven mage said, pointing at yet another rubble covered collapsed stairway to their left, circling around the larger hall and slowly sloping upwards to connect with the balcony above.

"This is just like the statue that hid the entrance deeper into Fen'Harel's sanctum in the mountain valley," Bethany remarked after they had braved the last bit of the decimated stairway and were now standing directly in front of the statue depicting a massive wolf with a somewhat smug, knowing look on its muzzle.

"Indeed, and this statue will also provide us with a path forward… I hope," Merrill said, approaching the statue and starting to look for a slot where to insert the small ironwood figurine, allowing herself a small cheer of victory upon finding it between the front paws of the stone wolf. "There we go," the elven mage grinned, slipping the figurine into the slot with an audible click. A few moments later, there was a loud and slightly alarming rumble somewhere in the distance.

"I hope it didn't cause some of the floating islands to fall into oblivion?" Riona looked at Merrill with a worried stare.

"No, don't worry, Riona," Merrill smiled. "It simply forced the path to the inverted eluvian to reassemble itself," the elven mage explained. "We now have a clear path to strike at the Viddasala and her qunari, so I suggest that we use it to surprise them before they have noticed our presence," she added, turning around to hurry back down the collapsed stairway, but running straight into the figure of Cole, the Spirit of Purpose having suddenly reappeared behind their backs.

"Caution," the pale-faced young man spoke grimly. "The qunari await you at the base of the tower. Do not charge blindly into an ambush. One of the horned giants is bathed in lightning."

"Saarebas," Riona and Bethany exclaimed as one, wincing in frustration.

"I will take care of it," Cole nodded with grim promise. "But there are ten others to deal with."

"Only ten? That's hardly a challenge," Merrill grinned predatorily and proceeded to nimbly jump down the collapsed stairway, but still retaining the patience and presence of mind to wait for the Hawke sisters to join her before rushing towards the eluvian that lead to the base of the tower where the qunari awaited them, their weapons drawn in a rather poorly disguised ambush.

The qunari spearmen began their attack as soon as they spotted the three mages starting to climb the collapsed stairway leading to the base of the tower, but their arcane barriers deflected the spears with ease. Arcs of lightning glistened between the fingers of the powerful Saarebas as he prepared to blast the opposition from their precarious positions on the collapsed stairway, but the qunari mage never managed to get his spell off, grunting and doubling up in pain as Cole materialized just behind the massive qunari, the former spy-assassin driving his daggers deep into the back of the Saarebas, fatally wounding the leader of the ambushers.

Taken by surprise, the qunari attackers lost their focus as they turned to attack Cole, leaving the three mages unmolested to scramble the last few yards of their path to the base of the stairway, jumping the last bit, the impact of their awkward landings absorbed by their arcane barriers. Considering Merrill's anger at the qunari defilement of her sanctuary, Bethany had expected the elf to launch into spellcasting as soon as her feet hit the floor, so she was surprised to see that her former lover instead gave her and Riona a wicked grin before casting any spells. "Can you bunch them up a bit for me?" she asked with a slightly frightening, but at the same time, almost primal and erotic hunger in her voice.

"Of course," Riona nodded, landing a pull of the Abyss spell amidst the qunari trying to attack the illusive Cole, but with no success as their spirit foe simply faded from view instead of sticking around to face overwhelming odds. With the qunari attackers inescapably pulled into a tight pack, now it was Bethany's turn to aim a cone of ice at the failing ambushers, freezing some of them solid and chilling the others so badly that they could barely move.

"Thank you," Merrill spoke with fierce concentration on her delicate face freed from vallaslin, drawing upon the energies of the Fade to forge a spell that appeared particularly complicated, summoning a ball of crackling green energy the same color as the Veilfire and the Anchor, the ball growing with every moment that it took to slowly float towards the trapped qunari ambushers. "I would advise you to duck," Merrill turned to grin wickedly at the two Hawke sisters, Riona and Bethany instantly throwing themselves to the ground, Merrill doing the same as the crackling ball of energy reached the qunari and then exploded with tremendous power, disintegrating everything within the sphere and sending the frozen qunari chunks from what was left outside the crackling orb flying in every which direction.

"There's something incredibly sexy about Merrill wielding such tremendous power," Riona whispered to her sister as they both watched the elf nimbly getting up to her feet and rushing off to examine the scene of carnage.

"Oh yes…" Bethany nodded with a dreamy look on her face, then catching herself and blushing as she averted her gaze, but Riona would have none of it, grabbing Bethany's shoulder and squeezing it to force her sister to face her stare.

"You be careful now, Beth," Riona gave her a stern glare. "I don't like where all this flirting could go. Remember yourself."

"Don't worry, I will remember myself," Bethany argued, though not with the conviction she herself would have liked.

"I hope for your own sake that you do, because I will keep watching," Riona warned her. "And I will not hesitate to step in if necessary."

"You won't have to, Ri," Bethany shook her head, trying to appear vehement. "There's nothing to worry about… I have everything under control," she added, but the look on Riona's face remained skeptical.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 _Vir Dirthara_

Somehow, using the ancient mechanism built into Fen'Harel's statue had done its job, and once Bethany, Riona and Merrill emerged from the eluvian returning them to the main section of the Shattered Library, they could see that the path to the inverted eluvian had repaired itself, massive blocks of stone having rearranged themselves to form a passage across to the tiny rock island that supported the eluvian. Remembering Merrill's urgings at how important it was to use the opportunity to take the qunari by surprise, the three mages quickly made a swift dash towards the inverted eluvian, entering it without hesitation even though they were aware that a dangerously large qunari force was stationed on the other side, and even with the aid of Cole their odds of successfully dealing with such numerical disadvantage were not good.

To make matters worse, upon emerging on the other side of the eluvian, atop the upside-down island, they immediately realized that they had failed to surprise the qunari for a group of at least dozen soldiers stood with their weapons raised, surrounding the eluvian in a wide semi-circle. They did not immediately move to attack, however, clearly waiting for a command to do so, and the occasional glance they shot behind their backs revealed their leader, dressed in just as simple armor as her charges, the tall horned woman idly pacing atop a flight of stairs, the only way to distinguish her from rank soldiers being an oddly crafted set of shoulder guards, a large decorative book grafted on top of the right shoulder pad, clearly depicting the fabled Tome of Koslun that Riona, Bethany and Merrill were all painfully familiar with from their adventures in Kirkwall.

"Agents of Fen'Harel," the horned woman addressed them in a voice full of disdain. "You have meddled into our affairs for much too long. I must commend you for your bravery to come here, foolish as it is."

"The Viddasala, I presume?" Bethany spoke quickly before Merrill got a chance to launch into spellcasting and destroy any chance of an illuminating conversation.

"Indeed," the qunari woman replied. "Now, kindly lower your staves and surrender yourselves. As mages of the South, you are obviously too corrupt even for the Qun to offer any salvation, but you have my word that your execution will be as painless as possible."

"Could you at least tell us why you have decided to wage this war against the South?" Bethany asked, stalling for time and obviously not planning to surrender Hawke's Key to anyone.

"Isn't it obvious?" the Viddasala snapped in reply. "Just look at what the South has become ever since your mage revolution! It nearly led to the destruction of everything we know when the Breach threatened our world. We were wrong to allow your Inquisition to deal with it. Look at where it has led you! Mages are running around free and unchecked, as evidenced by the three of you before us! It is not long before another disaster like the Breach strikes Thedas if we allow this to continue! The Qun allowed your people to curb your own magic, but you've amply proven that we should have stepped in a long time ago."

"So, you decided to do… what? Blow up the Winter Palace?" Bethany asked, trying to get the Viddasala to reveal as much as she would about the qunari plans.

"Do you believe it is the only place where we have struck?" the Viddasala laughed. "Think again. We have removed leaders of the South in several such devastating attacks, leaving your people incapable of fending for themselves. In one fell swoop, we have removed your leaders, while sparing those who toil."

"The South will never yield to the Qun… and neither shall we," Bethany retorted, gripping her staff with determination, sensing that the time for conversation was over.

"We'll see about that," the Viddasala shrugged indifferently before turning to leave. "Kill the agents of Fen'Harel, then follow me to the Darvaarad," she ordered those under her command while kindly providing Bethany and her friends with a vital clue, not that the name right now meant anything to them.

Bethany and Riona both immediately went for their arcane barriers, and considering the number of projectiles immediately being launched at them, it proved to be a very good idea, for a single barrier would have never withheld the assault. There were at least a dozen of the qunari spearmen chucking their wicked spears at them, while a trio of burly shock troopers rushed them, greataxes spinning wildly. Two of the Saarebas appeared farther up on the stairs, readying their lightning spells, though one of them immediately succumbed to a powerful backstab from Cole, which still left one of the dangerous qunari mages free to wreak devastation, their friendly Spirit of Purpose too far from the other Saarebas to stop it in a timely manner.

Merrill's first spell of choice summoned the fearsome tentacles of blood magic, dealing with a large group of spearmen at once, the vines strangling the qunari to their deaths, quickly draining them of blood with their razor-sharp thorns. The shock troopers eventually managed to shrug off the effects of the spell and then hack through the vines to continue their charge, but the blood magic had managed to slow and weaken them. The chain lightning spell channeled by the Saarebas reached its tendrils towards the three mages, not causing any damage, but depleting their arcane barriers to almost nothing. With Riona and Bethany unable to draw from the school of arcane energy, they were now depending on Merrill to provide new arcane barriers for them all, but either the elven mage was too bent on wreaking her revenge upon the qunari or she simply was not aware that both Bethany and Riona had already applied barriers at the same time, expecting one of them to do it again. Thus, Merrill decided to go on the offensive, which proved to be a costly decision. Certainly, the effects of her next spell were devastating for the three shock troopers charging them, the conical channel of angry red lightning mowing down the qunari soldiers, but in the meantime the spear throwers managed to destroy the barriers of both Merrill and Riona, Bethany's own hanging by the last few arcane threads.

Riona let out a cry of pain shortly afterwards, Bethany turning her head to see her sister hunched down on her knees and wrapping her palms around a profusely bleeding thigh, having been cut open badly by a spear. "Merrill! Barrier!" Bethany cried out, the elf snapping back to attention and giving her a look full of surprise as if to ask why she and Riona could not take care of these mundane duties all by themselves. Still, Merrill obeyed almost instantly and was about to provide the arcane protection when the Saarebas struck again, summoning a crackling ball of lighting directly in the middle of their small group. Bethany instantly dove to the ground, trying to shield herself from the explosion and praying that the others would manage to do the same in time. Her world exploded in blinding white as the ball lightning overcharged and she felt her arcane barriers fading, managing to shield her from any damage, but the others were not so lucky. With horror, Bethany watched how Riona took full brunt of the powerful blast, throwing her sister against a nearby pillar and then sending her on a slide towards the edge of the upside-down island, towards a lethal fall into oblivion… until at the last moment, her sister's unmoving form seemed to hit an invisible wall that slowly materialized as Cole, stopping her sister's deadly slide at the last possible moment.

Breathing a small sigh of relief while knowing they were not out of danger just yet, Bethany quickly rose from the ground, noticing Merrill doing the same, albeit with a grunt of pain as the elven mage had suffered the full effect of the lightning explosion, her short black hair standing up under the cowl of her ancient sentinel garb, slight wisps of smoke surrounding the irate looking elven mage's form. The smug looking Saarebas, thinking himself safe behind his arcane barrier, quickly learned the folly of invoking Merrill's ire as the thin tread-like blood magic ray of red energy that leapt from the elven mage's staff penetrated his barrier as if it wasn't even there, striking the qunari in the chest and mercilessly starting to drain him, driving the enemy mage to his knees.

While Bethany's first instinct was to run over to her sister, she had enough presence of mind remaining to realize that by doing so she would only put herself _and_ Riona in danger, because at least five qunari spearmen were still very much alive, carefully advancing with the intent to finish them off. Crouching low, Bethany focused as best as she could, channeling energies of the Fade to erect new arcane barriers enveloping all three of them before she dared to rise to her feet and become a target for the enemy spears, the heavy projectiles deflecting from her glimmering protective shield. While the qunari spearmen were smart enough to spread out as they approached, Bethany still managed to catch three of them with her pull of the Abyss spell, dragging them into a messy pile and then incinerating it with a well-aimed fireball.

An agonizing scream of pain, followed by sounds of bone crunching and blood splattering all over came from the direction of the Saarebas, but Bethany had her own matters to attend to and could not afford to become distracted by looking at just what horrors Merrill was putting her victim through. The two surviving spearmen were by now worryingly close and their throwing spears slammed against her arcane barrier with tremendous force, eventually shattering it. Unfortunately, they were approaching Bethany from opposite sides, which meant that there was no way for her to avoid being struck by a very likely deadly throwing weapon. Still, everything was happening so quickly that Bethany simply did not have the time to think, she simply acted, turning sharply and sending a powerful blast of ice towards the spearman on her left, sending him flying and toppling over the edge of the upside-down island, creating an odd image of the man flailing as he flew up into the sky. Behind her back, the last spearman let out a cry of victory as he launched his weapon into Bethany's unprotected back to rupture her internal organs and score a clean kill… but before he could release the spear, the qunari soldier froze as suddenly there was a sharp dagger imbedded deep in the pit of his throwing arm, severing the thoracic artery and rendering his throwing arm useless. Cole shortly put his opponent down for good, allowing Bethany to finally shoot a brief glance at Merrill and her victim, the Saarebas looking as if having died from a particularly nasty version of the walking bomb spell, and then moments later Bethany was already running towards her sister, laying prone on the very edge of the floating island.

A brief check revealed that Riona was still alive but unconscious, so Bethany's first and most important task was to stop the bleeding from her badly cut thigh, the youngest of the siblings dousing the wound with generous splashes from a healing potion before augmenting its healing properties with regenerative spells from the boring but incredibly useful Creation school of magic. Having stopped the bleeding from Riona's leg, Bethany began to remove her sister's clothing to better assess the injuries she had suffered after being tossed against the pillar of stone. With Riona out cold and unable to respond and explain where and what was causing her pain and discomfort, Bethany had to rely solely on tactile examination. She could not say with certainty whether Riona's ribcage was fully intact, but at least she was unable to find any severe and obvious fractures. It was more likely than not that at least some of her sister's ribs had sustained cracks, and there certainly was heavy bruising all over her left side, but nothing seemed to indicate internal bleeding or damage to the organs. Just to be sure, Bethany still used all the healing and regenerative spells she had at her disposal before gently rubbing her sister's side with a piece of cloth thoroughly soaked in a healing draught, making sure it was well absorbed by the skin. Resolving to feed Riona several more healing potions regardless of how well she would claim to be feeling after waking up, Bethany finally allowed herself to relax a little and together with Merrill and Cole they then carried Riona a little further away from the precarious edge of the upside-down island, only then daring to leave her sister's side to together with Merrill explore their surroundings, leaving Cole to watch over Riona.

"Find anything useful?" Bethany asked as she walked up to Merrill, noticing the elven mage going over the possessions of the dead Saarebas who had been stabbed by Cole instead of having been exploded all over the stairway by Merrill's more potent version of the walking bomb spell.

"I think so," Merrill nodded, turning slightly to show an elongated polished stone resting on her palm, covered with ancient elven inscriptions. "I believe this a keystone for an otherwise inactive eluvian. And since the Viddasala so kindly informed us where we should go next…"

"This Darvaarad place," Bethany realized. "You think it's locked behind another eluvian." Merrill nodded again. "Well, then it's all a matter of finding that eluvian, I guess."

"I love how you put it so simply," Merrill laughed. "The Crossroads is a massive place, Bethany, I have shown you only a small section of it. To find a particular eluvian in the Crossroads without having other clues as to where to search for it could take several days. If we're lucky."

"Well," Bethany smiled softly, then glancing back worriedly at Cole and Riona. "Ri might need a few days to recover from her injuries…"

"True enough," Merrill admitted, sliding the keystone into a pouch at her belt. "I'll start searching for the eluvian to Darvaarad right away. You stay here and take care of Riona."

"I think we should search this part of the library before you rush back to the Crossroads, Merrill," Bethany pointed out, waving at the wide-open space surrounding them, littered with qunari tents, a veritable war camp under the Viddasala's command. "Perhaps we can find a clue to narrow your search."

"That's not a bad idea," Merrill smiled at the other mage. "I'll take the right side while you take the left?" she suggested.

"Deal," Bethany nodded, walking over to the left wing of the top floor of this section of the library, a breathtaking place of learning that the qunari had despoiled by transforming it into an ugly military outpost. After almost a quarter of an hour spent in fruitless searching, Bethany finally came up with something that appeared important, a stack of papers all of which at first glance seemed to be in Qunlat, but after closer inspection it emerged that several pages had been translated into the common tongue. She briefly thought about perusing the notes then and there, but a glance back at Merrill revealed that the elven mage had finished searching her side of the library and returned empty handed, now looking at Bethany with a frustrated look on her face.

"No luck?" Bethany asked as made her way back to catch up with Merrill.

"Not really," Merrill shrugged. "Just a gleeful note scribbled by one of their brainwashed elven servants who apparently can't wait for the Viddasala to unleash the Dragon's Breath upon the loathed South. I'll show him Dragon's Breath up his…"

"If we haven't killed the man already," Bethany muttered, then pointing at the stack of papers in her hand and drawing Merrill's attention to them. "This might be more interesting to us. Notes made by the Viddasala herself, I believe… and some of it is translated from Qunlat."

"Let's hear it," Merrill urged.

"Those born outside the Qun will not comprehend the seriousness of using mages to help us," Bethany began to read. "They believe the worst that can befall a mage is demon possession. They do not truly understand that the loss of mastery comes with a loss of the self. Those of the Qun since birth do not understand why we risk using Saarebas. We have immersed them in a sea of magic until it seems impossible they could ever do anything but drown. It is right that we enlighten you so your purpose here is clear."

"Whatever," Merrill shrugged. "Is she trying to justify using the Saarebas the way she does? I don't get it…"

"I'm quite certain the qunari use the Saarebas as tools of war against the Tevinter Imperium. Maybe she's trying to justify their use in this particular research?" Bethany wondered, then flipping to another translated page to continue reading. "We have learned from this place that there lived an elven mage who saw a great wrong and sacrificed all to right it. This mage made the Veil, which protects us from the Fade. This Veil stripped power from his rulers who had treated their people with such excesses that it makes the southern kings and queens seem staid. Thus, does every action carry rightness and all paths converge."

"Of course, they would see it that way," Merrill growled. "Narrow minded magic haters! I wonder what the Viddasala would say if she knew that Fen'Harel considers creation of the Veil to be his greatest mistake."

"They would probably dismiss that part because it doesn't fit their narrative," Bethany shrugged, then moving to continue. "In his greatest magic, the elven mage became an agent of peace through the Veil. In our willingness to brave this place, we may discover how the Veil can be strengthened through our own mages. For that, we risk our lives. The Saarebas who have joined in this endeavor understand the dangers and have made their choice. Remember the words of Ashkaari Koslun:

Existence is a choice.  
There is no chaos in the world, only complexity.  
Knowledge of the complex is wisdom-…"

"I don't care about the words of some misguided ancient horned animal!" Merrill snapped, her eyes blazing with rage, though instead of making Bethany feel worried, the sight of the angry elven mage somehow appeared incredibly enticing and fascinating. "Did you hear what she plans? She wants to strengthen the Veil even further, to take what little magic we have left! I won't stand for it, I won't! I will tear the Viddasala and all her plans apart!" Merrill ranted angrily.

"I understand… and I will help. Both Riona and I will," Bethany spoke soothingly, hoping to calm Merrill down at least a little. "You know what is the funny part, Merrill?" she asked, chuckling a little as the elven mage seemed to relax slightly. "Ten, fifteen years ago, I might have gone along with the Viddasala's plan, back when I lived in a world where my magic felt like a curse and every shadow seemed to belong to a templar, coming to take me away. But now, when I have lived in a world in which I can be myself and practice my magic freely and see how wonderful it can be… I agree, we must stop the Viddasala and her plans."

"I knew you would understand, Beth," Merrill nodded with a smile that made Bethany feel rather warm. "Now, let's take Riona back to the library entrance where we made our camp, she can rest easy there. While you watch over her, I'll go and scour the Crossroads for the eluvian to Darvaarad. Does that sound like a plan?"

"It does sound like an excellent plan, Merrill," Bethany said, returning the smile.

* * *

Bethany was already about to crawl into her bedroll for a few hours of shuteye when Merrill returned from her exploration of the Crossroads. "Any luck?" the human mage asked, sitting on her bedroll, blankets raised up to her midriff as she was wearing nothing but her thin silk undergarments, her much suffering mage robe spread out nearby, cleaned to the best of her ability.

"Not yet," Merrill replied, shaking her head as she came to sit next to Bethany. "How is Riona?" the elven mage asked, looking at the older of the sisters, sleeping peacefully in her own sleeping berth nearby.

"Sleep seems to be doing her a lot of good," Bethany replied with a fond smile. "Once she wakes, she should be almost recovered from her injuries. Of course, I'm not really a healer so I could be wrong… but I don't think so. And speaking of sleep, I imagine we both should get some of that as well…"

"Not yet," Merrill said, turning to look at her with a particularly intense look in her green eyes. "There's something I want to address before we retire."

"Oh? And what is-…" Bethany was about to ask, but then her eyes widened as Merrill simply leaned in close and cut her words off with a bold, brazen kiss on the lips, one that Bethany found she had no willpower at all to break. "Merrill, what are you doing?" she managed, panting heavily after the elf had finally broken the kiss.

"Something we both want," Merrill replied with confidence that Bethany could not help but find extremely arousing. "Don't try to deny it, Beth. You've wanted this from the moment you first laid your eyes on me in the temple of Solasan. You've been thirsting to experience my power, my newfound confidence… the new me."

"I… no, I can't!" Bethany protested, shooting a helpless stare at her sister as if to beg her to intervene, feeling herself too weak to resist, but Riona simply continued to slumber with no sign of being aware of the world around her.

"You want to know whether you made the right choice, Bethany," Merrill grinned, edging even closer to the other woman. "I'll show you that you made a mistake… but one that can be rectified," she chuckled before kissing the stupefied Bethany again and soon enough the other woman began to respond, moaning throatily at the invasion of Merrill's tongue in her mouth, the elf tossing the blankets away in one smooth motion and straddling Bethany, quickly reclaiming her lips for more heated kisses before Bethany could launch a protest.

There was something in Merrill's kisses that drove Bethany simply wild, making her unable to push the elf away even though she knew she should. There was the strength, the assuredness of someone who could dominate her the way she sometimes wanted Josie to do, but the Antivan was simply not made for the role of a dominant partner in the bedroom. It was bizarre and mind-blowing to think of Merrill filling such a role, but this new Merrill, with eyes blazing, cheeks and brow no longer marked by the blood writing, seemed to know exactly what to do to make Bethany melt like butter in her arms. It wasn't long until Bethany abandoned all pretense of resistance as she quickly became too aroused, returning Merrill's kisses in full measure while sucking on the elf's soft little tongue, making no protest when Merrill's hands pushed her silken shift off from her shoulders to reveal her breasts and just as easily sliding it past her hips to leave her fully naked.

When Merrill eventually pulled away to straighten up and remove her armor, Bethany could only lay there and try to control her breathing, feeling her face flushing with searing heat as she watched Merrill undress. The last time she and Merrill had made love, she remembered that the elf's body was still almost girlish, soft but also full of awkward, bony edges. That all had changed over the past few years and when a fully naked Merrill turned towards her, Bethany was facing a supremely fit woman, not a single sign of the gangly awkwardness remaining, subtle ripple of muscles underneath the toned skin as Merrill dropped on her knees to straddle her again, recapturing Bethany's lips as they melded together naked skin against skin, both shuddering from the delightful sensation as their tongues wrestled for supremacy.

Amidst the increasingly passionate kisses, Merrill slipped her hand between their bodies, finding Bethany's heated center and coming away with her fingers coated in wetness. "My, my… you want it so badly, don't you Beth?" Merrill grinned, Bethany's head spinning in circles as she watched the elf lapping up the stickiness from her digits. "This is going to be almost too easy…" the elven mage chuckled, returning her hand between their bodies as it sneaked its way between Bethany's legs, the human gasping aloud when she felt Merrill slipping a pair of fingers inside of her without barely any resistance, clenching hard around the delightfully invasive digits, starting to move in and out of her with a pace that made her eyes roll to the back of her head.

With Bethany unable to do much else other than throw her head backwards and moan helplessly, all the while praying for Riona not to wake up, Merrill gave up on kissing her and instead moved all the way down her lover's body to capture the stone hard nipples of Bethany's breasts in her mouth, adding the third digit to increase the pleasure and Bethany's cries intensified instantly from the delightful stretch as well as Merrill's tongue and teeth toying with her nipples. After a few minutes of such relentless torment, Bethany's voice began to break and the rocking of her hips became almost jerky, the sweet edge of release crawling closer and closer.

Merrill eventually decided to take pity on her lover, releasing Bethany's breasts and quickly moving lower to where her fingers were thrusting in and out of Bethany's warm wetness. The elven mage quickly latched on to the sensitive bud of Bethany's pleasure, peeking out prominently from under its protective hood, starting to flick her tongue at the swollen bud and at the same time adding the fourth finger to slide deep inside of her lover. Bethany went completely silent for a few moments as the complete overstimulation overwhelmed her senses, and then she unraveled with a cry loud enough to wake the dead, but fortunately not Riona. Powerful release seized her entire body, sending her into a series of seemingly unending aftershocks, Merrill continuing to pleasure her all the way through her orgasm, coaxing more and more peaks from Bethany until she no longer had anything left to give, her body slackening and hips stopping their rocking to meet Merrill's thrusts.

Bethany was still recovering from the intense pleasure, taking deep and powerful breaths, when Merrill pounced again, intent on not giving Bethany a single extra moment to recover. In one smooth motion, Merrill straddled her again, this time throwing her leg across Bethany's shoulders and lowering herself so that her sex was directly above Bethany's face. Immediately understanding Merrill's intent, Bethany's arms wound around the elf's hips as she pulled Merrill further downward and latched her lips around the elf's throbbing clit, eager to return Merrill the favor from earlier. With soft, almost meowing moans, Merrill began to rock her hips, riding Bethany's mouth gingerly at first, but slowly increasing her pace and soon enough the intensity of her cries of pleasure increased as well.

Bethany's arms eventually abandoned Merrill's hips to reach upwards and seize the elven woman's soft breasts, starting to knead them, pinching and thumbing the sensitive nipples as Merrill's head rolled backwards and ancient elven curses tumbled from her lips alongside cries of delight. Rocking her hips at an increased pace and feeling her release nearing, the elf leaned a little backwards and slid her hand across the soft plains of Bethany's stomach and between her legs again, cupping her sex and forcing her lover to cry out while being trapped underneath the elf. For a few minutes, they continued their wild exertions, Bethany's hands squeezing Merrill's breasts as her lips and tongue worked the elf's clit, Merrill desperately rocking her hips and moaning deeply as her fingers rapidly brought Bethany towards another release together with her.

In the end, they reached the sacred plateau almost at the same time, Merrill toppling a little backwards as a surge of pleasantly sweet wetness covered Bethany's lips, helping to send the human mage to another intense peak as she cried out against Merrill's heated center, black spots dancing before her eyes as her world began to spin and the intense delight sent her hurtling towards an impenetrable darkness of nothing but pure pleasure.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 _Vir Dirthara_

Bethany opened her eyes, facing the collapsed roof of the Shattered Library, her breathing still quickened as her mind struggled to cope with what had just happened. She had succumbed to her weakness, had failed to push Merrill away and as a result she had betrayed Josephine and her trust. Her first instinct was to blame Merrill for not having respected the relationship she had forged with Josie, for coming on so aggressively, but Bethany immediately abandoned all her intent to blame Merrill for what had happened, recalling how she eagerly had welcomed the elf's advances. And speaking of Merrill, she was nowhere to see as Bethany reared her head, rising slightly from her bedroll as she supported herself on her elbows. All she could see was her sister sleeping peacefully in the other corner of the space that served as their makeshift camp.

Shifting in her bedroll, Bethany suddenly noticed something that made her blink in surprise. She was still wearing her silken shift, even though she vividly recalled and almost still felt the sensation of Merrill's hands pulling it off from her as they made love. _I don't remember putting it back on. I usually don't bother dressing after making love with Josie, and we both drift off to sleep naked in each other's arms. Then again… I don't really recall much about how this… encounter with Merrill ended. It's all a bit of a blur,_ Bethany thought to herself, feeling puzzled before the realization suddenly hit her. _Wait… was it all a dream? Yes, it must have been!_ She felt a massive weight falling from her chest as understanding came back in a flood, chasing the worst of her guilt away, even if a part of her still felt like a heel for even having such dreams.

 _And what a strange dream it was… I've never had a dream that felt this vivid and realistic. For a moment, I truly believed that it had happened… thank the Maker it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. Maker… I think it's all because I've spent so much time away from Josie… too much time,_ Bethany mused to herself, her thoughts inescapably returning to the dream, making heat hit her cheeks as she shifted in the bedroll again, coming to the uncomfortable realization that she was almost painfully aroused, and desperately in need of some stress relief. Stealing a glance at the sleeping Riona in the other corner, Bethany rolled on her side to face a bookshelf, slipping her right hand between her legs and quickly starting to pleasure herself, summoning a particularly enjoyable memory of a lengthy and daring carriage ride together with Josie, during which they had engaged in the sort of behavior that polite society would certainly disapprove of. The carriage driver had given them knowing grins when they eventually climbed out, their flushed cheeks speaking volumes, but the memory of how Josephine had failed to contain her cries when Bethany had dropped on her knees to worship her lover with her mouth was enough to send Bethany over the edge embarrassingly quickly, not that it was surprising considering in what state the vivid dream had left her in.

Bethany spent a few more minutes laying still and waiting for the aftershocks of her pleasure to fade before she dared to move again, rising from her bedroll and slowly starting to dress herself. She had just finished adjusting the straps of her mage robe when she noticed Riona shifting in her sleeping berth, Bethany freezing as she waited on whether her sister would wake up or not, trembling with worry when she heard Riona groan quietly. "Hey, Ri… everything alright?" she finally decided to ask, taking a few steps closer to her sister's sleeping form.

"What-… oh, it's you, Beth…" Riona muttered, opening her eyes and staring at her sister, appearing a little unfocused. "Oh… and we're still stuck here…"

"I'm afraid so," Bethany nodded. "How are you feeling?"

"Not great… but I'll be fine," Riona grumbled, propping herself up on her elbows and looking around, by now appearing a little more aware of her surroundings. "It's starting to come back to me now. I really got my bell rung somewhat fierce, didn't I?" Bethany merely smiled and nodded at that, feeling relieved that her sister would recover from her injuries. "Damn, I feel sore all over. Not that it's going to stop me from getting out of here and going after that Viddasala bitch. Anyway, where's Merrill?" she asked, the mere mention of the elf's name making her younger sibling blush a little.

"She's searching for the eluvian that leads to the Darvaarad place Viddasala mentioned," Bethany replied. _Damn, I need to get this back under control quickly, or else I'm going to look stupid when Merrill herself returns and I can't keep myself in check around her._ "No luck so far, though," she added, then catching herself. _No, wait… that was what she told me in the dream! By the Maker, it felt so real, I almost can't separate it from reality. But in reality, Merrill might have actually found the solution by now._

"Maybe we should seek her out and offer what help we can," Riona mused determinedly, pushing her blankets away and rising from her bedroll, starting to dress herself, groaning in pain now and then when she twisted her body in a less comfortable angle and her bruised ribs made themselves known. "Though perhaps before we set out to look for Merrill, we should have some food… I feel like I could eat a bronto," Riona chuckled, looking at their belongings, forming a small pile in the center of the bookshelf surrounded space. "Assuming we still have some supplies left and don't have to resort to chewing on some ancient tomes."

"We should be fine for a while still, as long as you're not picky about eating stale bread and even staler cheese," Bethany grinned as the two sisters set out to prepare their breakfast from what meager supplies they had left. This was how Merrill came to find them when she returned less than a quarter of an hour later, the Hawke sisters busy chewing on the bread and having to lace it with several swigs of water just to be able to swallow the dry loaves.

"Riona! You're alright!" Merrill exclaimed, though her stare lingered on the older of the sisters only for a moment before turning towards Bethany, accompanied with a soft smile.

"More or less alright," Riona smirked, while Bethany hastily returned her attention to the food, clearly unable to hold Merrill's stare for long. "Any luck with that eluvian?"

"No… I'm afraid not," Merrill grumbled. "I'm quite certain that I have found the eluvian that the Viddasala escaped through. Only qunari could trample the ground in the Crossroads hard enough to leave signs of their passage. But the damned keystone just wouldn't work for some reason!"

"Perhaps it needs more than just a keystone," Bethany remarked without looking at Merrill, the elven mage's reply being a frustrated shrug of her shoulders.

"We'll go with you and have a look for ourselves," Riona spoke, taking another swig from her water flask. "After we're done defeating the stale bread monster, that is," she added with a chuckle.

"Fair enough," Merrill sighed, sitting down on the ground cross-legged to patiently wait for the two siblings to finish their meal. "At this point I'll take any help I can get from just about anyone." At her words, suddenly, the softly glowing red outline of the Archivist spirit began to slowly materialize before them, making Merrill sigh and shake her head. "That doesn't include you, silly spirit… gone away already!" she growled at the Archivist, who somehow managed to appear disappointed even before it had fully materialized into the view, beginning to fade away again.

"You should really listen to what she has to say," Cole's voice startled all three of them, coming from the corner of the room, the Spirit of Purpose suddenly manifesting himself again. "The Archivist can recall many important things, especially now that more and more of her aspects are connected again."

"Oh, very well," Merrill sighed again. "You there," she spoke at the Archivist before the spirit had faded away completely. "Speak your piece then. Cole seems to think that you might know something that is actually useful."

"You seek a qunari called the Viddasala," the Archivist informed in its soft, feminine voice. "We have heard much of her plans. She often spoke of them thinking we could not hear," the spirit spoke helpfully, its voice then changing to reflect the Viddasala's booming tone. " _'Take the keystone to Darvaarad. I will join you there soon._ ' What you need is the words for their key. 'Maraas Nehraa'. With these words, it will open the way to Darvaarad. I hope that you will find what you seek."

"So that's why I could not make the keystone alone work!" Merrill exclaimed, slapping her forehead. "Yes, I could have never come up with these words in the qunari language… that was clever of them."

"Thank you, Archivist," Bethany smiled at the friendly spirit who somehow managed to appear happy for having been helpful. "You've been of great value to us."

"Ghil-Dirthalen was what the Elvhen called me," the spirit explained helpfully. "'One who guides seekers of knowledge true.'"

"You never told me that," Merrill frowned at the spirit.

"Because we could not remember," Ghil-Dirthalen explained. "As connections between our shattered pieces have been restored, knowledge has gradually returned. More will return as time passes."

"That could prove incredibly useful in the future," Merrill mused thoughtfully, then looking at the spirit again. "Please accept my apologies for misjudging you, Ghil-Dirthalen. I will not make this mistake again." The spirit seemed to be palpably radiating joy as it began to fade away, soon disappearing from their view.

"What an odd… being," Riona commented as together with Bethany they began packing in preparations for leaving. "I get the feeling that it is more than just a library archivist."

"As well as a Spirit of Connection," Merrill explained as she patiently waited for the other two to get ready for travel. "Through it, one city could read the records of another, one Elvhen could feel the memories of another. To see that this connection could still be rebuilt after all this time is very promising."

"Promising in what way?" Bethany asked without glancing at Merrill, busy looking around the campsite to make sure that she had packed everything, uncertain of ever returning to Vir Dirthara now that the path to Darvaarad appeared open to them.

"Promising in that it means that some of what had once been destroyed, could still be restored," Merrill replied. "But only if we can manage to stop the Viddasala and her mad schemes, so… let's hurry. We have a qunari fortress to storm…"

* * *

 _The Darvaarad_

Having negotiated passages of the Crossroads to reach the eluvian used by the qunari, the keystone together with the words 'Maraas Nehraa' served to activate the magical gateway, taking them to a secluded platform atop of impressive fortifications, the three mages immediately diving for cover to hide from the numerous qunari undoubtedly swarming their stronghold, while Cole simply faded from the view to accompany them unseen. Their arrival was accompanied by the cover of darkness of what felt like an early evening, the skies not having darkened completely, but just enough to shield them from the eyes of the fortress defenders.

After almost a minute had passed by without anyone noticing their arrival, the three mages finally dared to rise and take a good look around, immediately confronted with a shocking discovery. The platform they had emerged onto was something of an eluvian graveyard, the smashed elven mirrors thrown into heaps by the dozens all around them, an incredible and savage wastefulness that seemed to make Merrill's blood boil as she regarded the grizzly scene. "I will not leave one of these beasts alive," the elven mage declared passionately, gritting her teeth in anger, her eyes blazing with smoldering fire.

"We're with you, Merrill, but we can't lose our heads," Bethany spoke calmly, hoping to calm the elven mage down at least a little. "Before we act, we need to take a stock of our situation. Cole?" she asked, knowing that their spirit friend was near, and indeed he revealed himself instantly upon Bethany speaking his name. "Could you please scout ahead and tell us everything you can about the enemy numbers?"

"I shall do so," Cole nodded his head, fading from the view again, leaving the three mages to carefully observe their surroundings, hiding behind a stack of destroyed eluvians while making sure not to cut themselves on the broken shards of ancient glass. A short flight of stairs below, there was a similar platform, crammed full of broken eluvians, but also featuring an impressive statue of white stone depicting what Bethany had to admit was a strikingly beautiful female qunari warrior. Another shorter stairway then appeared to lead out onto the main battlements, and it seemed likely that traveling alongside the battlements would eventually allow them to reach the fortress itself. A large guard tower rose to their left, casting dark shadow at the end of a row of battlements, and there were similar large platforms on the other side of the battlements as well as at the base of the tower, but in the darkness, they could not get a clear view of their surroundings. They could spot what looked like the shine of broken eluvian glass, and it seemed as if there were qunari soldiers moving about, but in these circumstances, they all agreed that it was safer to wait for Cole to report back with a more accurate assessment of their situation.

"So where do you think we are?" Riona whispered quietly, looking around.

"I don't rightly know," Bethany replied, shrugging her shoulders. "But from the way the Veil feels around us, I believe that we are back on Thedas… would you agree with that, Merrill?"

"Definitely," Merrill nodded. "Probably somewhere in the qunari lands?"

"Well, I've always been curious to see what Par Vollen looked like, even if I never thought I would actually get to visit there," Riona grinned in the dark.

"From what we can see, it actually looks quite beautiful. I would have expected qunari architecture to appear more oppressive," Bethany remarked, looking around the fortress of grey stone, built into a cliff face. Tall pine trees grew in patches around the cliffs and large and thick green creepers spread across the fortress walls, giving it a surprisingly natural appeal. "I remember Bull telling me how the qunari always sought to learn from the best, which is why they were trying to mimic dwarven architecture. This feels like dwarven fortress, but with their own twist to it."

"It's actually less bulky and more elegant than dwarven architecture, which is not what I would have expected from the qunari," Riona remarked, echoing Bethany's thoughts.

Bethany was about to reply, but Cole chose that moment to make his return known, revealing himself nearby. "The patrols are smaller during the evening and the night," their spirit friend informed them.

"That's both good and bad," Riona commented. "It might make it easier for us to reach the entrance, but once we get inside, the numbers there will be larger."

"Yes," Cole nodded. "Two qunari with spears patrol this side of the battlements. And there is a group of three on the platform directly ahead of us. One of them is a Saarebas. He is writing something in a journal. Something about the mirrors."

"Guess they're still studying the eluvians?" Bethany wondered.

"Can we sneak by the platform and the three qunari there?" Riona asked of Cole.

"There will be no sneaking by anything," Merrill interjected sharply. "We leave nobody alive behind us."

"Umm… that's probably the smart approach," Bethany nodded, regretting that she had to side with Merrill's thirst for blood. "We don't want them to ambush us from behind. I mean, I seriously doubt we can reach the Viddasala with nobody spotting us and raising an alarm throughout the entire fortress, and then we would seriously regret leaving anyone behind us."

"Mhm… I guess I can see your point there," Riona frowned. "Still, a Saarebas with two cronies, that might draw some attention… unless Cole can remove the Saarebas quickly."

"I can do that when the patrol is at the other end of the battlements and out of sight," Cole nodded with certainty.

"Sounds good," Bethany said. "We just have to remember not to use any spells that are bright and flashy. Fortunately, our force magic looks very boring, right, Ri?" she chuckled, exchanging grins with her sister.

"No lightning," Merrill remarked to herself. "Fine by me. I was looking forward to hitting them with something else, regardless. Not limited to blood magic either."

"Umm, alright then…" Bethany said, turning to Cole again. "Take your position, Cole. We'll get as close as we can, and then we'll strike as soon as the Saarebas goes down, deal?"

"It's a deal," Cole smiled thinly, an expression that did not suit his pale face very well, then disappearing from the view yet again. The three mages began to carefully creep closer to their qunari opposition, and when a pained gargle resounded from Cole slitting the unsuspecting qunari mage's throat, Bethany and Riona immediately leaned out from their cover and let loose with their force magic to disable the qunari footmen. Merrill's strangling blood magic vines then sprouted from the solid stone and finished off the two soldiers in short order. With Cole moving to act as a lookout for the remaining patrol, the three mages rushed to take cover on the platform, using this opportunity to huddle closely by the dead Saarebas who had collapsed over a small work desk, blood pouring from the massive gap sheared in his throat by Cole's blade.

"Careful," Bethany warned when Riona pushed the corpse of the Saarebas off the desk to make sure that his escaping blood didn't stain the written notes too badly. Fortunately, the body hit the ground with a soft thud that failed to attract any attention. "Finding anything interesting?" Bethany then whispered as Riona started to leaf through the parchments scattered on the desk.

"I'm not sure, this is all in Qunlat," Riona shrugged. "Besides, most of this is just sketches of the eluvians and then there are some weird diagrams and algebraic equations next to the sketches. Looks like they are really serious about their eluvian studies."

"That may be so, but did they really have to smash so many of them?" Bethany sighed.

"What did I tell you about them being complete savages?" Merrill snapped angrily, then peeking at the research notes of the Saarebas. "Are those scratches of an inebriated chicken their glorious Qunlat? Really? Savages, like I said."

"I don't know, I can't actually read Qunlat," Riona said, passing the notes over to her sister. "What about you, Beth? You said you picked up a few words from the Iron Bull."

"I might have, but only a few," Bethany replied, accepting the parchments, but one glance at the writing told her that it was utterly illegible. "Nope. I can tell you that this is Qunlat… or is supposed to be, anyway, but the handwriting is so atrocious that I can't read a word. The drawings, however, are very accurate and meticulous… odd, that."

"I don't like how much they have learned about the eluvians and the network," Merrill frowned, looking concerned. "Hopefully we can bury that knowledge here together with their charred corpses."

"Patrol incoming," Cole warned them abruptly, interrupting any further conversation as the three mages instantly stopped talking and readied themselves to face the approaching qunari soldiers. As the two unsuspecting spearmen neared closer, an idea suddenly came to Bethany and without warning she quickly applied her pull of the Abyss spell to the wall of a watchtower that rose high above the gates of the fortress, leaving a wide gap between the tower walls and the main battlements. The placement of Bethany's spell managed to catch the two qunari spearmen in its area of effect and swiftly dragged the surprised soldiers off from the fortifications and towards the watchtower, which they obviously never reached, tumbling into the deep gap between the two structures and falling to break their necks on the cliffs below.

"Clever, clever Beth," Merrill chuckled, giving her former lover another charming smile that made Bethany's knees a little weak, but the memory of the vivid dream forced her to bite down on the inside of her cheek and refocus herself on the task ahead, swearing not to allow herself to be distracted by Merrill's almost otherworldly attractiveness that was becoming so hard to resist.

"We should be able to reach the courtyard now if we hurry," Cole spoke up, taking up the lead as they set out to make their way further down the battlements at a swift pace.

"And then what?" Riona asked as the group of four passed by a pair of statues of naked male qunari, of which there seemed to be a surprising amount in the fortress, depicting supremely physically fit and attractive specimens of both genders of the qunari, making them all wonder about this excessive display of art in what otherwise appeared to be a purely military establishment.

"Then we'll have a fight on our hands. No way around it," Cole replied, fading out of sight in preparation for the upcoming battle.

"Short and succinct, that's our Cole," Bethany chuckled nervously as the battlement now became a short tunnel created by another line of fortifications crossing over above their heads and connecting to one of the many tall stone watchtowers. As soon as they left the short tunnel, the small group of four found themselves in a large courtyard, another tall statue of a naked qunari atop of a pedestal of stone blocks dominating the large square directly ahead of them. To their right, wide stairway led up to a smaller square in front of a massive steel gate, covered with strange contraptions that appeared like complicated locks, making Bethany suddenly concerned about not having a proper master locksmith at their disposal on this dangerous mission. A large qunari war party was stationed next to the gate, well-armed and alert, looking as if they had sensed some looming danger, even if they hadn't yet noticed the three mages at the edge of the courtyard.

Bethany, Riona and Merrill began to slowly edge forward, all three of them quite badly startled when Cole suddenly emerged from stealth barely a yard away from Bethany. The former spymistress was about to admonish their spirit friend for scaring them so, when Cole suddenly lunged forward and stabbed what appeared to be thin air with his daggers… and sending spurts of blood flying through the air. Moments later, another body hidden by the effects of an invisibility spell materialized, an elven assassin of the Ben-Hassrath, toppling over with massive and lethal stab wounds to his chest area, inflicted just as he was about to launch a similarly deadly attack on Bethany.

"Thank you, Cole," Bethany whispered, turning back to the other two. "Barrier rotation. Let's make sure it doesn't drop with all these Ben-Hassrath assassins running around."

"An excellent idea," Riona nodded, moving to cast the magical barriers that instantly encompassed all three of them. This activity, combined with the killing of the Ben-Hassrath assassin, didn't go unnoticed by the gate guards and shortly afterwards they heard the shouts warning the entire fortress about intruders, commands being yelled to bar the gate, something that the three mages did not want to see done, so they were now forced to go on the offensive, led by Merrill who had no intentions of remaining subtle now that their cover appeared to have been blown, the elven mage taking the front and mowing down the qunari shock troopers with bursts of red lightning jumping from her staff and electrocuting those who stood in her way.

To prevent the guards from closing the gate, Bethany let loose with a powerful orb of ice that chilled and froze everyone by the metal gate while Riona smashed the remaining qunari with the Fist of the Maker, but even as the gate guards perished, they had annoyingly succeeded in their task to alert the fortress defenders and seal the entrance, the process of closing the gate appearing to be fully automatic after one of the guards inside had simply flipped a lever, trapping his own fellows together with the three invading mages on the other side of the metal barrier. The isolated qunari fell quickly, but the three mages found little reason to cheer, now having been locked on the wrong side of the gate and with no obvious way to get past it.

"Argh!" Merrill cried out in frustration as she launched one of her spells after another at the gate, only to see them dissipate or be absorbed by the surface which seemed to be specifically conditioned to withstand a magical assault.

"Don't expend all your strength, Merrill," Riona warned, even if the elf so far hadn't shown any indication that she could be worn out by anything. "I don't think we can storm this gate. We'll have to find another way inside."

"I will try to help," Cole announced suddenly, reappearing by the steel gate. "I remember watching Varric work. Perhaps I can think of something."

"Umm, sure thing, Cole," Bethany smiled, not feeling confident at all about their spirit friend's ability to unlock the door just because several years ago he had observed Varric cracking locks that would have been far less complicated. "In the meantime," she mused, taking stock of their surroundings as they stood in the small square by the gate, then noticing that another narrower stairway rose to their right, leading to the upper fortifications and then up to the largest of the towers overlooking the courtyard. "That tower looks large enough to hold something important," she suggested. "Perhaps we should try exploring there."

"For the lack of better options," Riona sighed, nodding reluctantly, almost having to drag a resentful looking Merrill with them, the elf looking like she was clearly not done trying to blast the stubborn gate with her magic.

"Don't forget about the arcane barriers," Bethany reminded them as they hurried up the stairway leading to the largest of the towers, stopping only to refresh the protective spell. "Now that they know we're here, we have to maintain it at all times."

"Good point," Riona nodded at her sister just as the three of them reached the entrance to the tower, a wide looming gap without any actual door, allowing them to see that nobody was inside, at least not on this floor of the tower. "Hello… what is this place?" the older of the siblings asked in a voice full of surprise as they stepped inside to be confronted with a rather unexpected view. There were several working desks and shelves on this floor of the tower, but their attention was immediately drawn to something they had not seen for the best part of the past two years, all of them rather glad for it. On one of the work desks, there lay a massive chunk of red lyrium, several shards having been carefully chipped off from the larger block and wrapped in a bundle of white cloth.

"This looks almost like some sort of a research tower?" Bethany ventured, making sure to keep her distance from the red lyrium. "It seems as if the qunari have been studying everything that they thought was contributing to the corruption of the South."

"They appear to have taken care with the corrupt titan's blood, at least," Merrill remarked. "I would have expected it to grow and spread like wildfire in the hands of these savages, but it seems as if they have managed to prevent that."

"Indeed," Bethany nodded, then pointing at a wooden ladder connecting to the floor below, a similar ladder nearby leading to the upper floor. "Let's try the ground floor first, shall we?"

"That is… quite the collection," Riona remarked once they had descended to the ground floor to discover a massive stash of arcane artifacts pillaged from what the qunari probably considered the corrupted ancient ruins of the South. Amongst many artifacts they did not even recognize, the Hawke sisters spotted a large astrarium from the days of Ancient Tevinter, a collection of the strange elven shards with which they had unlocked the temple of Solasan, figurines of elven Creators, Veilfire braziers and stacks upon stacks of ancient and important looking tomes.

"They've pilfered those from Vir Dirthara," Merrill scowled angrily as she noticed the stolen books. "So much for my plan to reduce this place to ashes. I can't risk destroying these precious books."

"I think we should be content with simply stopping the qunari plans," Bethany said, pointing at the ladder again. "Let's just check the upper level as well, to make sure we don't miss anything… even if there doesn't appear to be anything that could help us get past the gate."

"Might as well," Riona nodded, the first to climb the ladder, followed by Bethany and then finally the darkly scowling Merrill. A few moments later, the threesome emerged on the upper floor of the tower to discover that it had been converted into a storage room for the larger pieces of elven relics and statues, depicting the traditional wolf guardians, hallas and messenger owls, as well as other creatures, some of whom the Hawke siblings didn't even recognize.

"These are just some statues, nothing to see here," Merrill spoke up quickly, barely having cast her eyes upon the room, a reaction that Bethany found a little odd. "Let's just get back to the gate and see what we can do. If my spells can't penetrate metal, then I shall blow another hole in the stone wall if need be."

"I'd like to see that," Riona chuckled as she followed Merrill downstairs, Bethany moving as if she was going to follow, but then at the last moment stepping away from the ladder and casting her eyes around the room one more time to see if she had perhaps missed something important.

It was then that she saw it, a clear case of something being hidden in plain sight. Behind all the statues lined up against the wall, there was a massive piece of an ancient elven mural, taking up almost the entire wall. Most of the mural depicted a huge black wolf, but it was clearly more than just a wolf, for the artist drawing it had given the wolf six eyes, perhaps to figuratively suggest that it was an all-seeing creature. In the mural, the wolf, or more precisely Fen'Harel, appeared to be undergoing a transformation, its shape twisting and changing into something else, but that part of the mural was hidden behind the halla statues, forcing Bethany to step closer to explore as she ignored calls from the floor below, urging her to hurry up.

Somehow, Bethany did not feel too surprised when sneaking behind the halla statues, she discovered that the great wolf had been depicted transforming into a robed male elf. The face of the elven man appeared to be rather generic, with no noteworthy features to set it apart from just about any other elf, however… there was something about the depicted elf's posture that Bethany found instantly familiar, filling her with a sudden realization. _I wonder… could it be possible? Have I allowed myself to be deceived this badly? If this means what I think it means… how did he possibly get away with this deception for so long?_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 _The Darvaarad_

"I guess we're letting Merrill blow a new hole in the wall," Riona commented once a slightly lightheaded Bethany had caught up with the others at the impenetrable steel gate that Cole had predictably failed to unlock.

"I had another idea… but it probably wouldn't even work," a dejected looking Cole muttered.

"Please speak, Cole, I'm sure it's at least worth considering," Bethany smiled encouragingly at their spirit friend.

"Well… seeing as I am a spirit," Cole began hesitantly. "I could just… pass through the gate and reappear inside. Then I could use the lever and open the gate from the inside. No… no, I guess that's no good…"

"What?" Riona blinked, wide-eyed. "Of course, that would work! Please, do that, Cole!"

"Oh," was all Cole said, then fading from view as they remained by the gate, waiting for the unmistakable sound of a lever being flipped on the other side of the door and gears starting to grind, unsealing the heavy locks one by one.

"It seems that we are all guilty of continuously not accounting for the fact that Cole is a spirit in our planning," Bethany chuckled uneasily, gripping her staff as she waited for the gate to open. "Double barriers might be a good idea right about now. I'm sure we'll face a large welcoming committee waiting on us," she said, Merrill reacting instantly and bolstering the barrier spell cast by Riona.

"Or not," Riona muttered, as the gate finally opened completely to reveal a long passageway leading further into the fortress proper, but it was completely empty with nary a soul in sight. "I'm sure there's an ambush waiting for us further inside, though. There has to be."

"Well, we have the best possible scout imaginable at our disposal," Bethany smiled, looking at Cole, still standing by the lever that operated the gate. "Cole, would you mind exploring ahead and reporting back to us?" The friendly Spirit of Purpose nodded at that and disappeared yet again, leaving the three mages waiting.

"Merrill, you still look as if you would rather just blast through the place," Riona grinned, watching as the elven mage paced back and forth the small square, appearing the picture of impatience. "Don't worry, you'll still get to do that… but I'm sure you will agree that a little scouting ahead can prevent us from walking straight into some unpleasant surprises."

"I suppose so," Merrill nodded reluctantly. "But I believe we can at least drop with the pretense of subtlety."

Cole announced his return shortly thereafter, reappearing next to them, the others already expecting it and for once not being startled by his sudden emergence. "There's a locked door to the right, but it leads only to a boring storeroom," their spirit friend informed them. "Door straight ahead and the stairway down to the left eventually arrive at the same hall. It's full of angry qunari waiting for you."

"Well, then let's not make them wait," Merrill growled, striding forth into the fortress with the Hawke sisters hot on her heels, busy applying the arcane barriers to protect them from the inevitable initial barrage of spears and spells. Merrill cut the corner to the left and took a pair of steps down the wide stairway before she spotted the qunari lookouts below, shouting to warn about enemy approach. The elven mage immediately let loose with a spell before the lookouts could retreat to join their fellows downstairs where the ambush was being prepared, tendrils of the blood red lightning catching the retreating soldiers and then jumping to electrocute the entire group… and then causing a massive explosion that knocked the three mages off their feet and buried them in a thin layer of dust and rubble, a wall sconce coming loose and painfully hitting Merrill in the shoulder as she crouched on the stairs, covering her head with her hands.

"Maker! What was that?" Bethany exclaimed, once the very foundations of the impenetrable fortress had stopped shaking.

"Those were the exploding barrels of gaatlok stored in the barracks," Cole informed them helpfully. "Wait… do you want me to inform you about them in advance?"

"Yes! Maker's breath… yes, please!" Riona exclaimed emphatically, rising to her feet and dusting herself off, then giving Merrill a concerned stare when she noticed that the elf was chugging down a health potion, but the elven mage merely shook her head at Riona's stare to indicate that there was nothing to worry about.

"I'm sorry," Cole appeared a little dejected. "I forgot that gaatlok is bad for you."

"It's alright, Cole," Bethany smiled encouragingly. "Just keep us informed about any stockpiled gaatlok in advance, please," she said as the three mages and their spirit friend slowly advanced down the dust and rubble covered stairway to observe the devastation in the downstairs hall. The thick walls of the fortress appeared to have withstood the blast just fine, but the same could not be said about the contents of the hall, including the group of qunari soldiers whose charred body parts had been scattered throughout the hall, Bethany and Riona trying hard not to gag from the horrible sight of this literal slaughterhouse, rushing to quickly escape the hall through the only exit available, leading them out into yet another passageway.

"Let's wait on Cole to scout ahead before we rush into the unknown," Riona spoke hastily, placing her hand on Merrill's shoulder to stop her, the elven mage already on the move forward.

"Mhm… where is that blasted spirit?" Merrill grumbled, looking back at the hall devastated by the exploding gaatlok, Cole yet to emerge from it. "What is taking him so long?" she complained impatiently.

"Apologies," Cole appeared moments later, passing a collection of blackened parchments over to Bethany. "These were trapped under one of the dead men and spared the worst of the flames," he explained. "I thought you might want them."

"Thank you, Cole," Bethany gratefully accepted the singed notes. "Good thinking, my friend," she added with a smile, starting to browse the parchments.

"Shouldn't we be rushing ahead after the Viddasala and leave reading for later?" Merrill sighed, giving Bethany an impatient stare.

"These notes are written in common, Merrill… it will only take a moment," Bethany replied soothingly, the elven mage making no further protest at that. "They appear to be instructions for the non-qunari workers here at the Darvaarad. Just listen to this. _'The Dragon's Breath must continue regardless of some of the recent setbacks. Many are new to the Qun and have not yet learned to trust. Your worry is understandable. The rest of the world has betrayed you.'_ "

"Again with the Dragon's Breath," Riona muttered. "You know how literal the qunari are about everything. I wouldn't be surprised if they were talking about an actual breath of an actual living dragon."

"You just might be right about that, Ri," Bethany replied, continuing to read the notes. " _'All who have been to the Darvaarad know the difficulty of maintaining the specimen for extraction for as long as we have. If we delayed Dragon's Breath, we would have to dispose of the specimen. Creating gaatlok is normally a slow process requiring much mining and careful alchemy. Venom extraction offers the only means to deliver the Dragon's Breath quickly and in large quantities. To delay the Dragon's Breath is to lose any chance of bringing peace to the South without needless suffering. The Qun demands we save the workers of the South from a bloody war and deliver them into our teaching before corruption further overtakes the land.'_ "

"So… they're not only conditioning a captured dragon to use it to attack the South, they're also using its blood to quickly create massive quantities of blackpowder?" Riona blinked. "What is with this fascination of extracting the blood of powerful creatures? Titan's blood, dragon's blood… where do we draw the line?"

"I guess we don't, and that's the problem," Bethany shrugged. "Also, it seems that we now have the secret ingredient in creating gaatlok, something that everyone in the South have been wondering about for centuries. There is no way I'm going to share it with anyone, though. It's not like we need more means of mass destruction at the disposal of some of the less reasonable rulers of the South."

"I'm keeping this all to myself as well," Riona nodded. "If we make this knowledge public, there is no chance that the leaders of the South would only use it against the qunari. Sooner or later, it would be commonly used in conflicts throughout Thedas, and we can't have that."

"Of course, it also means that there is a large and probably very angry, mistreated and tortured dragon somewhere in this fortress," Bethany sighed.

"Perhaps we could unleash it on the qunari?" Merrill suggested, for once not looking very keen on her plan to simply blast everything in her path. "I'm sure it would love to snack on its captors."

"That's something to keep in mind. Good idea, Merrill," Bethany smiled at the elf, then turning her attention back to the notes. " _'Others have voiced concern over the specimen. The Qun does not demand cruelty to any living being, but all creatures have a place and a duty under the Qun. The specimen serves as it must. When Dragon's Breath is complete, it will be extinguished quickly and painlessly, as when we slaughter animals for food. Allow your superiors to deal with the agents of Fen'Harel, and remember your role in service to the Qun.'_ "

"That must be one unhappy dragon, being drained of its blood for the glory of Qun," Riona growled. "I would love nothing else than to turn the tables and unleash it on these qunari bastards. Maybe it could eat the Viddasala alive."

"I have a more painful demise in mind for that woman," Merrill nodded with a wicked grin on her lips. "Also, it is good to hear that we have disrupted the qunari operations so much that their workers require reassurances from their superiors to restore their morale."

"Indeed, it is," Bethany smiled. "Well, that's it for the notes, so we can continue. Cole?" she called out, having to wait for a brief while for the Spirit of Purpose to reappear by their side. "What have you learned?"

"The next few passageways are free of any qunari," Cole informed them. "The corridor we're in ends in an important looking study. I think you should see it."

"Hmm, perhaps it's the Viddasala's study?" Bethany wondered. "In that case, we really should take a closer look at it," she added as the small group resumed their journey through the fortress of Darvaarad, walking down a wide set of stairs to discover that the passageway at the bottom of it widened considerably, opening to form a beautiful balcony carved out in the cliff face, offering a splendid view at the rocky cliffside below as well as providing a great vantage spot for bowmen or spear throwers. Also present on the balcony were several well beaten training dummies that appeared to have seen much use, but since they held no interest to the three mages, they moved straight past the balcony to enter the large and almost garishly decorated study, most definitely garish by qunari standards.

"Beth, I hope you won't insist on reading all of this," Merrill remarked as the three of them approached the large writing desk at the back of the study, stacks upon stacks of parchments resting on the desk.

"Perhaps not now, but I'm most certainly bringing everything I can with us for reading later," Bethany spoke before starting to stuff piles of Viddasala's papers into her backpack. "The more we can learn about the qunari plans the better."

"Agreed," Riona nodded, reaching out and patting the massive skull of a large dragon, placed on a wooden tripod and taking up almost half of the Viddasala's work space on the table. "So impractical to place it there, but I guess the qunari really do love their dragons," the older of the Hawke siblings mused.

"Yes, they love to chain them and drain them of their blood," Merrill shrugged. "That is a strange display of affection."

"Good point," Bethany nodded in agreement, then freezing for a moment as she picked up a brown leather case containing several parchments with detailed blueprints inside. Even though it was written entirely in Qunlat, Bethany immediately understood its meaning and the implications, considering the qunari did not translate the names of geographical locations and cities into Qunlat. "These are drawings of the Winter Palace… and blueprints of all the other buildings they planned to blow up like they did in Halamshiral," Bethany spoke, starting to browse through the blueprints with a heavy heart.

"Those bastards," Riona growled, noticing how thick the stack of parchments was, containing at least twenty different blueprints. "What were the other targets?"

"Seats of power throughout the South, it appears," Bethany replied, feeling a strange lightheadedness gripping her as the enormity of the qunari plans truly sank in. "The Imperial Palace in Val Royeaux, in case Celene and Briala were there. Cumberland and Nevarra City… Montsimmard… almost every city in the Free Marches. I don't see Kirkwall, though," she mused, earning a sigh of relief from Riona. "The Royal Palace of Denerim…"

"Damn it," Riona cursed. "Alistair… let's hope that he and Evangeline somehow managed to dodge the arrow. I don't want to think about the fate of Ferelden without him in charge."

"Truer words haven't been spoken," Bethany said, her heart starting to skip faster as she stared at the next blueprint. "Antiva City…"

"The palace of King Fulgeno?" Riona asked, Bethany replying with a stiff nod. "Huh… well, I guess the qunari weren't aware that he was just a decorative figurehead or else they would have hit the Merchant Princes, right?" Riona's face fell immediately when Bethany produced no reply, the older sibling reaching out to comfort her sister by placing an arm around her shoulders. "Oh, Beth… I understand that you would be worried about Josie, but think about it logically. When was the last time she had any reason to be anywhere near King Fulgeno's residence?"

"Hmm… yes, I suppose you're right," Bethany immediately perked up at her sister's appeal to reason. "Yes, she should be perfectly alright… I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. Anyway… if they have been successful in carrying out these attacks, we will return from our adventure to the South completely paralyzed by a lack of leadership."

"Maybe it won't be so bad since we know that Celene and Briala have survived to keep Orlais under control," Riona argued. "And Antiva can run perfectly fine with King Fulgeno dead and his palace in ruins. It's Ferelden that I'm most concerned about…"

"Very true," Bethany nodded, finishing stuffing the remaining parchments into her bags, then stepping around the desk to open the sole large drawer and fishing out an important looking envelope with a seal that appeared to have been broken very recently. "Hmm, what's this then?" she wondered, removing several pieces of pure white paper, covered with the calligraphic writing of the Qunlat.

"Don't tell me you can read all of that," Riona remarked, also coming to look at the letter.

"No, but I can understand a few words at least, and I know this seal," Bethany pointed at the envelope. "I've seen it many times on the reports that the Iron Bull passed to us when he was still a part of the Ben-Hassrath. It's the seal of the Triumvirate of the Qun, so I wonder what they might be writing the Viddasala about."

"Take it with us and we'll find a way to translate it later?" Riona suggested.

"Well, obviously," Bethany nodded, sparing one more glance at the parchment.

"I can already tell you how this will go down once we put a stop to the Viddasala's operation," Merrill chuckled sarcastically. "This Triumvirate will disavow all knowledge or involvement in this operation, claiming that the Viddasala was acting on her own and without their consent. They will claim that she was a rogue priest of this Ben-Hassrath and will wash their hands in innocence."

"Probably," Bethany nodded in agreement. "This letter seems to imply otherwise, though. We need someone to do a proper translation, but I'm pretty sure that the Triumvirate does know what the Viddasala is doing. However… hmm, I might be wrong about this, but it seems as if the Viddasala has been embellishing the situation in the South to receive consent from the Triumvirate, and they are expressing their… concern."

"Yes, that's the last step before cutting off their support entirely," Riona said. "We've seen it time and time again, haven't we?"

"True… anyway, I think we're done with the study," Bethany spoke, quickly sorting out her backpack before adjusting the straps and slinging it back onto her shoulders. "Cole? Where to next?" she called out to the spirit, certain that he was still lurking nearby, out of sight.

"It's a place they call the gaatlok factory, down the next passageway," Cole replied, materializing next to them. "There are many qunari. And gaatlok… lots of gaatlok. See, I remembered!" he added proudly.

"Well done, Cole," Merrill sighed, rolling her eyes a little as they set out on a light jog down the next passageway to the gaatlok producing facilities. The time for subtlety had come and passed, so the elven mage did not hesitate as she aimed an empowered stonefist spell at the large wooden gate to the gaatlok factory, knocking it off its hinges and the three mages quickly ran through, entering the factory and finding themselves in a wide hall that looked to be serving as a temporary storage facility, shelves upon shelves filled with the explosive powder lined up against the walls.

"Teth a! Bas!" one of the several qunari guards in the storage hall shouted upon their dramatic arrival, not that his fellows required a warning after the gate behind them had been trashed and splintered by Merrill's magic. The qunari immediately turned to attack the intruders, but Riona and Bethany were quick with their force magic, slowing and crushing their foes.

Merrill was still pondering whether her assistance would even be necessary in dealing with the qunari guards, when suddenly another figure emerged high above them, atop of a balcony above the storage hall, the three mages looking upwards to spot the Viddasala glaring at them with an expression of rage and disbelief contorting her determined face. "Nehraa ataashi-asaara meravas adim kata!" the woman shouted in Qunlat before retreating, while at the same time another group of qunari soldiers rushed into the hall from the only entrance to their left.

Leaving the guards already in the hall for Bethany and Riona to play with, Merrill found the new arrivals an easy prey as they barged through the narrow entrance, leaving themselves painfully exposed to her blood magic, the spell paralyzing the entire group. Still, the Saarebas at the back of the group somehow managed to quickly shrug the spell off and the familiar crackle of chain lightning now sparked around his staff, the qunari mage clearly willing to blow up their entire gaatlok supply and bury the invaders under all the rubble, even if it meant giving up his own life as a payment, tradeoff that the fanatical qunari zealots appeared glad to accept, a trait that made them such a dangerous opposition.

Knowing that any offensive spell to disable the Saarebas would take too long to cast, Merrill instead opted to raise her left arm and a radiant sphere of green glow leapt from her fingertips and surrounded the three mages with a massive arcane barrier that neither Bethany nor Riona had seen before. Still, they all felt relieved about not having to test the durability of the barrier from all the gaatlok barrels around them suddenly exploding, as Bethany at the very last moment managed to land her pull of the Abyss spell just behind the Saarebas. It did not stop him from casting the spell altogether, but by pulling the qunari mage backwards, Bethany made his staff point upwards and so instead of striking them and all the explosive barrels surrounding the three mages, the chain lightning instead traveled upwards, striking the roof of the hall and exploding all the barrels on the upper shelves. A massive shower of rubble and plaster fell upon them, but fortunately the roof itself held, and Merrill's new and improved arcane barrier easily shielded them from the falling debris. With Cole emerging to run the unpleasantly surprised Saarebas through from behind, the rest of the qunari soldiers were easy to mop up afterwards, leaving the three mages and their spirit friend free to enjoy a shorter reprieve as they took another, closer look at their surroundings.

"There's only one exit that I can see," Riona stated, glancing at the doorway surrounded by pools of blood from the qunari corpses, drained by Merrill's blood magic. "Could you scout it for us, Cole?" she turned to meet a quick nod from their helpful spirit friend.

"Look at that," Bethany exclaimed while they waited on Cole, pointing at a large window covered with iron bars in the wall opposite to the smashed gate they had arrived through. Through this barred window, they could see an even larger hall at the back of the fortress, serving as a holding pen for the captive dragon, the color of its hide a mix between sickly green and pale yellow, the great beast constantly screeching and fighting against its bonds, clearly suffering as the qunari relentlessly drained its blood to quickly produce massive quantities of gaatlok.

"It looks really angry," Riona gulped, having stared at the dragon for a while. "Let's hope we can avoid fighting that thing."

"I'm quite certain we'll have to deal with it on our way to reaching the Viddasala," Bethany sighed. "Somehow that always seems to be the case."

"No dragon is going to stop me from catching up with that crazy qunari," Merrill spoke with determination. "Besides, putting that poor beast down will be more of a mercy killing after everything the qunari have put it through."

"Not arguing that," Bethany nodded, then looking around the storage hall one more time while they continued waiting on Cole, spotting a large piece of parchment attached to one of the shelves where the gaatlok barrels were stored. She became even more interested in the note when she noticed that it was translated in common for the Viddathari workers at the factory, offering detailed instructions on how to create gaatlok primers from dragon's blood, deathroot extract and powdered silverite. "Better take this with us," she decided, removing the parchment and folding it up. "I don't want these instructions to fall into the wrong hands after we've evicted the qunari from their stronghold."

"If we are in Par Vollen, then the qunari will just reclaim the fortress sooner or later," Riona shrugged. "But sure, don't leave information like that behind. Even if we don't plan to make gaatlok ourselves, it might be important to find out everything the qunari know about it."

"Exactly what I was thinking, Ri," Bethany smiled at her sister, then turning her head to look at Cole, materializing by the doorway. "What did you find out, Cole?"

"This leads out to an open terrace," the Spirit of Purpose pointed at the doors behind him. "Then it curls around and leads back into the fortress. The qunari call that place the venom extraction chamber. That's where the dragon is. A splinter of me that can still comprehend compassion senses its overwhelming pain. Its suffering is… indescribable."

"What about the Viddasala and the qunari in this venom extraction chamber?" Merrill asked, not looking particularly concerned about the captive dragon and its suffering.

"I did not see the Viddasala, but I saw at least two dozen qunari," Cole stated. "They will make their last stand there."

"Two dozen is a lot, especially with that dragon thrown in the mix," Bethany muttered. "Who knows how the beast will react? It has no reason to think we have come to liberate it. And perhaps the qunari can exert some control over it and force the dragon to attack us. I don't fancy our chances against two dozen qunari **and** a dragon."

"We may have no choice in the matter," Merrill reminded them. "I'm certain we can do it," she added confidently.

"Perhaps we won't have to," Riona said, snapping her fingers as she turned her attention back to their spirit friend. "Cole, this dragon, it is held by chains, yes?" Cole nodded swiftly. "Do you think you could free it? If there's even a chance that the dragon would turn on its qunari captors, we need to make use of it."

"Let me see," Cole said with a nod, disappearing again and leaving the three mages to observe the dragon's struggles through the barred window to the venom extraction chamber. Fortunately, they did not have to wait too long before Cole reappeared again. "Yes," the Spirit of Purpose informed them, appearing pleased. "Yes, I think I can open those large manacles while remaining unseen."

The three mages blinked, exchanging confused looks between them. "Well… then why didn't you do so?" Riona sighed, scratching her scalp in confusion.

"Oh." That was all an embarrassed looking Cole said, disappearing yet again. Less than a minute later, they all heard a massive roar from the venom extraction chamber. Through the barred window, the three mages could see the dragon rising on its hind legs for a moment, gathering its strength before letting loose with a powerful venomous breath that made many of the gathered qunari cry out from surprise and agonizing pain.

"I think they look properly distracted by now, so we should be able to get closer," Bethany stated after they had been watching and listening to the carnage in the extraction chamber for some time. At that, the three mages quickly rushed out from the storage hall and onto the terrace, then making a turn to climb a set of stairs leading back into the fortress and the venom extraction chamber. The circular hall was surrounded by a curving corridor which oversaw the hall from above and provided them with the perfect vantage point from which to observe the slaughter below, the qunari lines dwindling quickly when faced with the rage of the tortured dragon.

"They've barely scratched the thing," Riona grumbled, watching the dragon casually biting a qunari shock trooper in two, swallowing the man's torso, while at the same time sending two others flying with a powerful stinging tail swipe. "Unless they make a dent in its hide quick, we'll have to face it enraged and almost at full health."

"Or maybe not," Bethany mused, an idea quickly occurring to her. "See the large gate with those big levers behind the dragon? I bet that's how they dragged the poor beast in here… and if we could get it open, maybe the dragon might use it to escape?"

"Worth a try," Riona nodded approvingly. "I should be able to hit the lever on the far side from here, if you want me to."

"Then I'll take the one closer, but not yet… let's wait for the dragon to thin the qunari numbers some more," Bethany told her sister as they crouched behind the railing of the corridor running around the extraction chamber. "I think now would be a good moment," she spoke a while later when she could count no more than five qunari soldiers left facing the dragon, all of them injured and staggering, the two Hawke sisters then leaning out of their cover to cast their spells at the large levers sealing the gate. The applied force on the levers instantly made the gate part, providing the dragon with a path to regain its freedom, but the great beast was so enraged that at first it did not even notice the open gate, finishing the injured qunari down to the very last.

"I love my force magic," Riona grinned, looking on as the dragon reared its head searching for more qunari to kill, but instead of more prey discovering that its path to freedom was now open and the great beast started to lumber towards the open gate, limping and bleeding a little. Cries of surprise came from outside the fortress as the dragon emerged from its holding pen, letting loose with its venom breath at the qunari stationed outside before gingerly taking to its wings and flapping away.

"Come!" Merrill exclaimed, jumping over the railing and nimbly dropping down onto the ground below, the two Hawke sisters not daring to do the same in their mage robes and instead quickly ran for the closest stair leading to the circular hall below. "Hurry up! We must catch the Viddasala now before she escapes!" Merrill shouted, not looking impressed as she sped ahead, already by the gate with Bethany and Riona lagging good twenty yards behind.

With the Hawke siblings trying their best to keep up with Merrill, the trio emerged onto the highest tier of battlements around the Darvaarad, allowing them to oversee almost the entire fortress and to instantly notice a large group of qunari led by the Viddasala hastily gathering in the courtyard below, impatiently waiting as two of the Saarebas channeled their spells at a particularly large and elaborate eluvian in the courtyard.

"Parshaara!" the Viddasala swore, having noticed them high above on the battlements. "I will stop you yet, agents of Fen'Harel! You already tore the sky apart with elven magic once! I will not allow you to shatter the world as well! It is because of you that we have taken the way of the blades to bring wisdom to the South, when without your meddling we could have brought them down a gentler path!"

"What is she rambling about, Merrill?" Bethany turned to their elven friend.

"Who cares, we have her right where we want her," Merrill shrugged, taking another leap from the battlements and launching one of her spells at the tightly clustered qunari in the courtyard. The Saarebas, having successfully activated the eluvian, frantically summoned arcane barriers that absorbed the worst of Merrill's magic, but it still left several of the qunari crying out in pain and agony.

"Go! Go, quickly!" the irate Viddasala yelled, sounding almost a little panicked as she literally pushed some of her soldiers through the eluvian, then hastily following together with the Saarebas, leaving the injured behind. Moments later, Merrill's feet hit the ground near the courtyard and another spell left the tip of her staff, one of the injured qunari spearmen surrounded by swirling red mist as he began to choke before exploding in a shower of blood and gore, the blood magic empowered walking bomb annihilating all survivors near the eluvian.

"That's nasty," Bethany shuddered, together with Riona quickly rushing to find the closest stairway leading down to the courtyard, not quite daring to make the jump Merrill had cleared with ease. "Scary Merrill is being scary again."

"I bet you still find it sexy," Riona chuckled as they began to descend the stairs to the courtyard where a visibly frustrated and irritated elven mage was waiting for them.

"Perhaps I do, but I'm still not going to forget where my heart lies, Ri," Bethany replied, her memory of the vivid dream still fresh on her mind and reminding her about a certain Antivan to whom she had surrendered her heart. "That said, Merrill is not wrong about the Viddasala… we need to stop her, and we need to stop her now."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

 _Elven Ruins_

Following the slightly dizzying travel through the eluvian, Bethany opened her eyes to observe that they had emerged in the middle of what was an unmistakably elven ruin. Unlike most ruins they had explored over the years, this one was in very poor shape, the ancient walls looking as if they had been destroyed by a violent blast, almost like Vir Dirthara. Still, unlike the Shattered Library, Bethany was certain that this ruin was located firmly on the surface of Thedas because the Veil around them felt real and stable, and her connection with the Fade seemed to be like she always sensed it. The ruins were overgrown with patches of colorful trees and tall grass, leaves in the trees starting to turn into various shades of red and yellow, and together with the quiet warmth of a low afternoon sun it all suggested that it was a beautiful autumn day somewhere in the moderate climes, quite possibly northern Ferelden or Orlais, or perhaps even somewhere in Nevarra.

The qunari were nowhere in their immediate sight, having already moved on, but Bethany was certain that they would soon yet again encounter their horned foes. Merrill took the lead once more, picking her way through the labyrinthine ruin, though it was clear that she had no idea where she was leading them, having never visited the place before and simply rushing ahead, guided only by her burgeoning desire to hunt down and destroy the Viddasala and her forces.

After a while of frantic running around the ruins with nothing to show for it, Bethany was about to call out to Merrill to ask her to slow down and instead allow Cole to scout ahead and find the qunari, but before Bethany had managed to do so, they suddenly passed through an ancient and near-collapsing archway to find themselves in a wide courtyard… that had very recently been turned into a qunari statue garden. Indeed, the Viddasala's entire entourage stood in the courtyard, having been turned into unmoving statues of stone, some of the warriors frozen in their battle stances, while other faces showed utter dismay and horror at their sudden and unexpected fate.

"What is going on here?" Riona whispered as the three mages carefully picked their way through the small forest of statues, Merrill raising her arm in warning to tell the others to keep silent as she gestured ahead to indicate that they were not alone.

"Ebesit kata. Itwa-ost," they could suddenly hear a soft-spoken male voice, coming from the lips of someone Bethany would have never expected to utter a word in Qunlat… Solas, himself.

"Maraas kata!" came the angered reply in a harsh, rasping voice of a qunari female, everyone instantly recognizing the ever defiant Viddasala.

"Your forces have failed," Solas spoke, now switching to the common tongue as he must have sensed them approaching. The elven mage stood calmly in front of the enraged qunari leader, not even bothering to invoke an arcane barrier to protect himself. He was wearing a suit of light armor that was almost identical to Merrill's, very much like the elven sentinel garb, only lighter and more suited for a powerful mage. A beautiful and pristine pelt of a white wolf hung around his shoulders as he stood with his hands clasped in front of him in an almost regal pose. "Leave now, and tell the Qunari to trouble me no further," he added, giving the Viddasala an opportunity to withdraw as he turned his back on her and began to idly stroll away.

Unfortunately for the Viddasala, she did not appear to be endowed with sufficient survival instincts, the woman readying her spear and with a snarling grunt launching into a throwing motion to impale Solas from behind. At that moment, Solas casually raised his hand and the qunari woman instantly froze in her tracks, becoming an imposing statue of stone, much like everyone under her command, meaning that their Dragon's Breath operation came to a sudden and disastrous end, much to the relief of the entire Southern Thedas.

"So… we finally meet the other thorn in the qunari side," Riona commented as they approached to face Solas, the enigmatic elven mage facing them with a serene look on his face, smiling briefly when Merrill came up to stand by his side. "The other agent of Fen'Harel."

"No, Ri… we were supposed to believe that Solas is only an agent of Fen'Harel, but that's not actually true," Bethany shook her head much to her sister's surprise. "He _**is**_ Fen'Harel. Solas _**is**_ the Dread Wolf… and he has been manipulating us and the Inquisition since the very beginning."

"What? But… I don't understand…" Riona gasped, glancing at Bethany in disbelief, but the looks on the faces of Solas and Merrill instantly reassured the Champion of Kirkwall that her younger sibling's theory was absolutely correct.

"She was not supposed to learn this," Solas frowned, giving Merrill a faintly disapproving stare.

"Oh, Merrill told me nothing. She played her role very well indeed," Bethany smiled faintly. "But there were still enough clues left for me to put together and so I arrived at the truth on my own. The mural I saw at the Darvaarad merely helped me to connect the dots and then everything fell into place."

"I see," Solas nodded briefly. "Well, I should not be surprised. You were always very resourceful, perhaps as much as Merrill, if not more. This was not quite how I expected it all to end, however…" he added, giving Merrill another firm stare, as if to ask for an explanation.

"I am sorry, master," Merrill bowed at Solas, or Fen'Harel. "I could have dealt with the Viddasala earlier, but I did not wish to endanger Bethany and Riona by rushing too much. And since you advised me not to reveal the whole extent of my power, our progress was slower and allowed the Viddasala to escape time and time again. For that I apologize."

"I accept your apology, Merrill. You have still done very well," Fen'Harel nodded approvingly at his proud looking apprentice. "Now, as for you…" he looked at the Hawke sisters. "I had not planned for this meeting, but now that you are here, I expect you have questions. It would be unkind of me not to indulge your curiosity, especially after you have fought so hard to come this far. Whether you wanted to or not, by helping to deal with this qunari threat, you have helped me yet again… just as you unwittingly helped me while in the service of the Inquisition."

"Like my sister says, we saw a great deal while traveling through the eluvians," Riona spoke up, facing Solas with a hard and somewhat suspicious stare. "Stories of old, describing the struggles of Fen'Harel. Are these legends true?"

"They are certainly closer to the truth than the Dalish legends, though still prone to making me into something more than I am," Solas smirked. "I sought to set my people free from slavery to would-be gods. I broke the chains of all those who wished to join me. I was Solas at first, but the false gods called me Fen'Harel, an insult I took as a badge of pride. When they finally went too far, I formed the Veil and banished them forever. Thus, I freed the elven people and, in doing so, destroyed their world."

"You said that the elven gods went too far," Bethany joined in the conversation. "What did they do that made you decide to use something as extreme as creating the Veil?"

"They killed Mythal," Solas answered with a grim chuckle. "A crime for which an eternity of torment is the only fitting punishment."

"But she was one of the Evanuris," Riona pointed out, appearing a little confused.

"She was the best of them. She cared for her people and protected them," Solas replied with a sad sigh. "She was a voice of reason, and the only capable of keeping the dark urges of the others in check. But the rest of the Evanuris grew tired of having to contend with Mythal's watchful gaze. In their lust for power, they set their own intrigues and differences aside and plotted to kill her… successfully so."

"I imagine that to kill the Evanuris would have been impossible even for one such as you," Bethany remarked. "Banishing them was the only option you could think of."

"Yes… I am aware that you know about Mythal still roaming the world of mortals, even if her power is not what it once was," Solas replied, exchanging quick glances with Merrill. "You would know that the Evanuris are not easily killed. My solution meant that the Evanuris would be banished forever, paying the ultimate price for their misdeeds. Sealing them away by creating the Veil was… a difficult decision, but I saw every other alternative as worse. If I hadn't done it, the Evanuris would have destroyed the entire world."

"Are you simply being hyperbolic, Solas, or were the Evanuris actually mad enough to make plans to destroy the world?" Bethany asked.

"Not as such… but their plans would have destroyed the world, had I not stopped them," Solas shrugged. "Perhaps they still will. The Evanuris set in motion terrible events that affect the mortal world to this very day."

"Such as?" Riona asked with a scowl on her lips.

"I will let you find the answer to that question by yourselves," Solas smiled. "The clues are all there in front of you, in plain sight."

"So… you stopped the Evanuris from destroying the world by destroying the world of the elves yourself," Bethany remarked thoughtfully. "Excuse me for saying so, Solas, but there is something self-defeating about your plan. I mean, we saw Vir Dirthara and how it was shattered by the Veil. The entire empire of the elves met the same fate if it was so intrinsically tied to the Fade as Vir Dirthara. This was a cataclysmic event, the destruction of a civilization. Was what the Evanuris planned worse than that?"

"What I did was even worse than what you describe, Bethany. Do you remember the elven legends of immortality? All true. But it was not the arrival of humans that caused them to begin aging… it was me. The Veil took everything from the elves, even themselves," the Dread Wolf sighed. "Was what the Evanuris planned worse? In that moment, I firmly believed so. Their leadership promised corruption of a different sort than what the Veil did to the people. I cared for my people too much to watch them being dragged down the path of corruption of the Evanuris, twisted into mere pawns of uncaring would-be gods. I would rather destroy them than watch their hearts be filled with evil and wickedness."

"How did these Evanuris come to have such influence amongst your people?" Riona asked. "How did they rise to power?"

"Gradually. It started with a war," Solas replied. "War breeds fear. Fear breeds a desire for simplicity, good and evil, right and wrong, chains of command. People were willing to trade many of their personal freedoms for protection from those that could ensure it. After the war ended, these personal freedoms were never returned to the people as the surviving generals on the winning side became respected elders, then kings and finally gods, the Evanuris… while the losing side became the Forgotten Ones."

"I wonder if that was going to happen to Inquisitor Trevelyan if he hadn't died so suddenly," Riona mused. "I always thought there were signs of him wanting to go down this road, dreams of godhood."

"I'm sure he would have fit right in with the Evanuris," Bethany shook her head, then giving Solas another searching stare. "This has all been very informative, Solas, but we have been only discussing the past and leaving the most important questions untouched. I don't really expect you to truthfully answer this, but… I feel that it is important to know what you are after currently. I almost went with the explanation that we were approached because you needed our help to remove the qunari from the eluvian network, but having seen what Merrill is capable of… and we're not even talking about your own powers," she said, nodding at the garden of qunari statues behind them. "You didn't need us here. You could have dealt with the qunari on your own."

"True enough," Solas admitted. "To involve you was Merrill's idea," he added, nodding at the other elf nearby.

"I can't tell them my reasons unless we explain the plan," Merrill spoke, looking slightly apologetic as she faced Riona and Bethany's inquiring stares.

"Ah yes, the plan," Solas nodded, starting to slowly pace back and forth in front of them. "Considering everything that you have learned here today, it should be possible to guess, shouldn't it?"

"Something tells me I'm not going to like it," Riona muttered, exchanging worried glances with Bethany, the younger sibling also looking greatly concerned.

"Probably not," Fen'Harel nodded reluctantly, stopping his pacing and turning to the two humans to explain. "I lay in dark and dreaming sleep while countless wars and ages passed. I woke still weak a year before I joined the Inquisition. I could not even unlock my foci orb and needed the help of someone powerful to unlock it for me. Corypheus should have died in the process, but when he survived my plans were thrown into chaos."

"So… so that is what happened at the temple of Sacred Ashes?" Bethany gasped, quickly putting two and two together. "The orb we thought belonged to Corypheus was actually yours? You… you allowed him to kill so many of the brightest minds of Thedas? Divine Justinia… all the people I knew and looked up to? That… that is horrible…"

"It was," Solas agreed readily. "I regret that it had to happen. In retrospect, allowing my ally to lead Corypheus to the orb was a rather reckless decision, but once again, at the time I saw no alternatives. I could not have imagined that he would unlock it in such a spectacular manner while attempting to kill thousands. I also did not account for Corypheus possessing an ability that allowed him to be reborn through another Blight-infested creature. And in the end, it was rather ironic that the foci orb was still destroyed instead of being returned to me, by the very same man I helped elevate into a position of power that he so badly sought after."

"Dear Maker…" Bethany sighed, staggering almost as if punched. "None of this needed to happen! This all could have been avoided! I'm sorry, Solas, but… I find it hard not to be… upset when faced with these revelations…"

"Oh, you should be very angry. I sympathize quite completely," Solas nodded. "And yet, you must realize that I will do anything I possibly can to undo what I did to my people. They fell for what I did to strike the Evanuris down, but deep down I still hold some hope for restoration. My larger plan remains what it always has been… to save the elven people. Even if it means that this world _must_ die."

"Why does this world have to die for the elves to be restored?" Bethany asked, shaking her head.

"Trust me that I will take no pleasure in this consequence, but it will be unavoidable once my plan comes to fruition," Solas sighed again. "If I had regained my foci orb, I would have used the Anchor to enter the Fade. There, I would have torn down the Veil. As this world burned in the raw chaos of the Fade, I would have restored the world of my time… the world of the elves. This plan has become more difficult to carry out without my orb, but not impossible… and we are getting ever so close," he said, looking at Merrill, the elven mage smiling proudly at her master.

"But I still don't see how it would destroy the entire world," Bethany didn't relent. "Sure, the mortal realm and the Fade would be united again, as it had once been joined, but that doesn't mean all the humans would just instantly die… does it?"

"It shouldn't," Riona shook her head. "We could survive just fine in the Raw Fade, so this shouldn't even be that bad. Of course, all of us were capable mages and powerful individuals who could brave the dangers of the Fade. The average human on the other hand would struggle… perhaps we can survive and adapt as a species, but I imagine that the initial transformation would claim many lives. I just don't think Solas himself knows what will happen. If you haven't noticed it by now, there is a common theme to all of his plans… lack of any sort of accurate prediction of consequences."

"Have some respect, Riona," Merrill immediately moved to chide her. "Everything Solas has done, has been with the best interests of our people at heart."

"Not being an elf, you'll forgive me for not giving a toss about that," Riona snapped back irately. "As another example of his short sightedness I would like to remind you that if you go ahead and tear down the Veil then these evil Evanuris will return in an instant and you would have achieved absolutely nothing!"

"Don't speak as if we are not aware of it, Riona," Merrill huffed. "Why do you think I have spent so much time studying in Vir Dirthara? Both Solas and I are seeking solutions on how to deal with the Evanuris after we tear down the Veil. We will not do it unless we'll have a solid plan in hand."

"More plans… how reassuring," Riona muttered, but then fell silent as Bethany raised her hand nearby, the older of the siblings looking on at her sister to see tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I… I could never imagine you contemplating… doing something so horrible, Solas," Bethany managed, quickly wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of her robe.

"Thank you," Solas replied, actually looking a little uncomfortable. "You must understand. I awoke in a world where the Veil had blocked most people's constant connection to the Fade. It was like walking through a world of Tranquil."

"I guess if you couldn't even think of us as people, then you would not have cared what Corypheus did with your orb," Bethany sniffed.

"You're right. At first I did not care at all," Solas admitted. "But then I joined the Inquisition… and it was you and Merrill who showed me that I was wrong… again. And yet, it only makes what must come next more difficult."

"So why did you want us here, Merrill?" Riona asked, turning to their old friend. "To hear that we are doomed to die so that the elves can claim their supposedly rightful place? I almost feel I would have been happier not to know what horrors you both are planning to unleash on us."

"Not just for that, Riona," Merrill shook her head in determination. "I wanted you here to show you… and to Solas as well, that this doesn't have to be. I wanted to show you what we ultimately want to achieve, but I also wanted you to know that I am studying and trying to find a way to make this transformation of your world easier for everyone to endure. Despite his grim warnings, Solas does not want your world to be destroyed," she said pleadingly, Solas giving a minute nod at her words.

"And what if you don't find this solution?" Riona continued with her questions. "What if Solas says that he can't give you any more time? Will you still support him tearing down the Veil?"

"Of course," Merrill nodded without hesitation. "But I know that we can make it work. I invited you both along because I wanted you to understand the importance of what we're trying to achieve… and I want you both to help me find a solution how to avoid your world being destroyed. Of course, I understand that with your child, you might not be able to join us, Riona… but perhaps Bethany…"

"Wait… you want me to abandon my life in Antiva and join you and Solas wherever it is that you even call your home?" Bethany blinked in surprise. "That is crazy, Merrill! I… I can't do that!"

"But it is for the greater good," Merrill argued passionately. "Together we could save the world from being destroyed! If we work together, we could convince even the Dread Wolf to choose a gentler path as he seeks to restore the glory of the Elvhen. How could anything else be more important than this?"

"I… don't necessarily disagree about the importance of the matter," Bethany sighed, still feeling a little taken aback by Merrill's sudden and surprising suggestion. "But what exactly is it that you propose we do?"

"You saw the enormity of the information stored in the tomes of Vir Dirthara," Merrill spoke passionately. "While Solas is working to put other aspects of his plan into motion, it falls on me and me alone to research the ancient elven lore, looking for ways of how to make the destruction of the Veil less devastating for the moral realm. To get through all the knowledge contained in Vir Dirthara, even in its shattered shape, would take several lifetimes. And while Solas has kindly agreed to give me more time to find a solution, he's not going to wait forever before putting his plan into action." The Dread Wolf nodded grimly at his apprentice's words. "Bethany, I need you here with me and together we would stand a greater chance of finding a way to lessen the impact of what is to come."

"I…" Bethany took a deep breath, exchanging a brief look with Riona and blinking as she saw the unspoken caution in her sister's eyes. "I'm still not sure…"

"Please, Beth," Merrill spoke softly. "I know a part of you wants this. Still wants to be with me. Don't deny it… don't deny yourself. Don't deny _us_. It would be for the greater good, but it could also be for _us_."

"That's why I can't do it, Merrill," Bethany shook her head, the elven mage's words finally making her see the light and helping her decide against the temptation. "Because I know where it would lead should I stay with you… and I can't do that. I can't do that to Josephine. I love her more than you know."

"You're lying to yourself, Bethany," Merrill insisted resolutely. "I know you still have feelings for me. The way you reacted in the dream proves it. You still love me, Beth, I felt it and you can't deny that."

"I don't deny having feel-…" Bethany sighed, but then her eyes widened as she realized something. "Wait… wait! The dream! How do you know about the dream? I've told nobody else about it! How do you know about it, Merrill?"

"Because I made you see it, Beth," Merrill shrugged simply. "One of the gifts that Solas bestowed upon me was helping me become more like him… someone you would call a Dreamer."

"You… you're a Dreamer?" Bethany gasped. "So… you reached into my consciousness from the Fade and summoned this dream in my mind?" Merrill nodded silently at that. "That… that is revolting! How could you!"

Now it was Merrill's turn to appear stunned and surprised. "I… don't understand your reaction, Bethany," the elven mage was clearly confused. "You loved everything I did to you in the dream. Your actions spoke louder than your words. You wanted for it to happen."

"In a dream, perhaps! I would have never made that choice if you had allowed me to make it!" Bethany's voice rose to near-shouting as her entire frame shook from the outpouring of emotion, Riona quickly coming over to wrap a supporting and protective arm around her waist, glaring at Merrill as she did so. "You violated my thoughts, Merrill… all to prove a stupid point? I can't believe you would do that… can't believe you did."

"I… really don't understand what is so wrong about what I did," Merrill confessed, looking genuinely confused and for a moment appearing like the naive and innocent girl that the Hawke sisters had come to know many years ago. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked, looking at Solas, the Dread Wolf shaking his head with sadness.

"I warned you that she might not understand the importance of what we must do," the Dread Wolf let out a weary sigh.

"That you don't understand what you've done, Merrill, is probably the most tragic in this situation," Bethany managed in a grief-stricken voice. "You've changed, and… I don't think I really like this new Merrill all that much. You are becoming more and more like him," she said, pointing at Fen'Harel. "Already you are having difficulties to account for the feelings of others. How long before you become so powerful that us, simple mortals, will stop mattering to you? I hope that you truly intend to do what you claim to be doing, which is to soften the blow of the Dread Wolf's plan, but… I can't help you with it. I no longer recognize in you the girl I fell in love with… I'm sorry, Merrill."

"Then I'm sorry, too," Merrill managed, her jaw clenched as she fought against showing her emotions. "You've made a mistake here today, Bethany. I cannot believe that after everything I showed you about the plight of my people, you would not agree to help us… to help undo this great injustice done to my people."

"Oh, I would love to help the elves, Merrill, you can be sure of that," Bethany shook her head firmly. "But not at the expense of those who inhabit the mortal realm now, for they had nothing to do with the collapse of the elven empire. To restore the elven people at the expense of everyone else would be an even greater injustice."

"What happened to the elves is all on him," Riona pointed at Fen'Harel. "And he seems intent on carrying out one plan with disastrous consequences after another. The only course of action that makes sense is to stop Solas from realizing his plans."

"What? No… no, I won't allow that," Merrill exclaimed. "Don't make me fight you, Riona. I don't want to do that."

"Well, it's not like he intends to let us leave after telling us so much about his plans," Riona pointed at Solas who was observing the exchange with a dispassionate look on his face.

"Of course, you are free to leave," Solas eventually shrugged. "In fact, perhaps you should do just that. You present no threat to me. There is nothing you can do to stop the plans I have set in motion."

"Is this really how you want us to part?" Merrill asked, for once appearing regretful. "As enemies?"

"It's not like you've left us with many options, Merrill," Riona replied stiffly. "Solas told us that he will enact a plan that will destroy our world, how do you expect us not to oppose it? While you study elven lore in the Shattered Library, we will have no quarrel with you… but if you will actively help to carry out the Dread Wolf's plan, we will stand on opposite sides in this confrontation."

"Opposing me won't end well for you, Riona," Merrill warned, though she did look devastated while saying the words.

"I don't want to fight either of you," Bethany spoke quietly, swallowing heavily to stop more tears from escaping. "And I will do my best to find a way to prove to you," she turned towards Solas, "that this world does not need to be destroyed."

"I will welcome a chance of being proven wrong, my friend," the Dread Wolf replied softly.

"As for you, Merrill… I will never fight you, and I know you will never raise an arm against me either," Bethany spoke in a voice that threatened to break as she looked straight into Merrill's eyes. "I can still see some of the Merrill I once knew and loved deep inside of you… please, try not to lose that part of you even as you grow and become more like the Dread Wolf. Just… just don't become like one of those he had to banish… the Evanuris." At her words, Merrill took a sharp intake of breath before turning away with a pained look in her eyes, no longer able to face Bethany.

"One final word of warning before Cole escorts you out of the Crossroads," Solas spoke up as the Spirit of Purpose materialized by the side of the Hawke siblings. "The eluvian network is now under my complete command. Unless you have the explicit permission from me or Merrill, I would ask you to never use it again. The same goes for your friends and associates who have used it before… Morrigan, Marquise Briala and her empress. Warn them that should they decide to use the eluvians, I will not be able to guarantee their safety."

"Meaning that you're going to kill anyone who trespasses through the eluvians," Riona summarized aptly as she and Bethany started to follow Cole out of the qunari statue garden, leaving Fen'Harel and his distraught apprentice behind.

"Let us hope that it will not come to that," Solas replied, genuinely sounding like he meant it. "Live well, Hawke sisters. Live well… while time remains."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

 _The Waking Sea_

Bethany and Riona had been led out of the Crossroads by Cole, emerging back into the lands of Thedas somewhere in the Dales, north of the mighty forests of the Emerald Graves. It had taken them three days to reach the Imperial Highway and from there, the closest of the large cities of Orlais, Lydes, on their way to the port city of Jader. Fortunately, by the time they arrived in Lydes, the news that Empress Celene and Marquise Briala had survived the destruction of the Winter Palace had already spread across the land and the squabbles for the suddenly not so empty throne had stopped just as quickly as they had originated, and Orlais had returned to a semblance of normality.

In Lydes, Bethany had arranged for a trusted courier to collect all the documents she had gathered during their crazy adventure and rush to Jader via Halamshiral ahead of them. The collection of parchments would be sent straight to Josephine in Antiva City, and Bethany's beloved would then arrange for translation of the papers in Qunlat while Bethany and Riona planned to first visit Kirkwall, dropping off Riona before Bethany continued onwards to return home to Josephine, impatiently waiting for her.

"You look as if you're very busy plotting," Bethany was stirred from her thoughts by her sister as they sat at a table in a luxurious guest cabin of a Montilyet trade vessel making a routine run from Jader to Kirkwall, the pair looking out at the crashing waves of the Waking Sea trying to toss the ship around, but incapable of harming the sturdy vessel.

"What?" Bethany blinked as she pulled away from watching the white foamy caps of the waves and turned her attention back to her sister. "Oh… yes, I guess I was. Just wondering about what to do, exactly, and who to bring in on this. There's so little that we know about what they're planning, and I would rather not worry those who cannot do anything to help us in this matter."

"True enough," Riona admitted. "I'll have to tell Morrigan, though. I'm still not sure if she's going to be deterred by that warning not to use the eluvians."

"Probably not," Bethany sighed.

"I just think the whole thing is completely crazy," Riona grumbled. "If we had known about his plans from the start, maybe we should have helped the Viddasala instead. In the end, we did him a massive favor by purging the qunari from the eluvian network."

"Eh, he could have done that himself with only a bit of an effort," Bethany shrugged. "Besides, the qunari weren't there to stir trouble with Fen'Harel, not to begin with, anyway. They were all about starting a war with the South, and we couldn't allow that." Riona let out a reluctant grunt of agreement at that. "Besides, if you remember what Solas did with the Viddasala and her lackeys… I think it's becoming quite clear that we can't stop the Dread Wolf in a direct confrontation. Either we need to come up with some clever solution or we have to convince him to abandon his plans to tear down the Veil."

"He should be smart enough to realize the stupidity of his plan," Riona sighed. "I mean, just look at his track record, it's pathetic. How many world shattering events has he caused for this supposed greater good?"

"Greater good of the elves, you mean," Bethany remarked pointedly.

"Well, yes," Riona nodded quickly. "But what I mean is that his plans always seem to backfire because he hasn't taken something into account. Why should we believe that this time it will be any different? He's clearly not as smart as he thinks he is. History proves it."

"I agree," Bethany replied. "But if they hatch their plots behind the eluvians where we are told we cannot traverse, we will have very limited abilities to learn anything about what exactly they are planning to do."

"We could decide to ignore his warning," Riona pointed out.

"Something tells me that wouldn't be wise," Bethany shook her head. "I'm quite sure there's a way for Fen'Harel to know if someone is using the eluvians. The Crossroads are the Dread Wolf's domain now. I don't think we should risk entering that place, unless there are no other options."

"Eventually there might not be other options," Riona sighed. "And of course, what Merrill said about trying to persuade Solas to seek a more gentle and considerate path that would not destroy our world outright… after what happened, do you think she's still motivated to guide him down this more lenient path?"

"Probably not… I'm not sure," Bethany ground out, still hurting from how their parting with Merrill had ended. "Do you think I should have stayed behind with her?"

"What?" Riona blinked in surprise. "No! I don't think I would have left you behind there with her. Beth, I don't know how it all looked to you because I know you are still influenced by some lingering feelings for Merrill, but I'm not… and I could see just how much our old friend has changed. She has truly gone off from the deep end, Beth… sometimes I could barely recognize her as the Merrill we once knew."

"Maybe," Bethany shrugged indecisively. "Still… if me staying behind would have helped to save our world from being destroyed? I could have helped to save everyone we love and care for. Ri, if we fail to stop Solas from putting his plans into action… I'm always going to think back on that moment, and I'm going to blame myself."

"We'll stop them, Beth," Riona spoke in a steely voice, reaching out across the table and squeezing her sister's hand. "You've already given so much, you have nothing to blame yourself for. Besides, I would not have allowed you to sacrifice yourself."

"I suppose you're right…" Bethany finally conceded, even if she still felt and looked uncertain. "Maybe some of what I said actually got through to Merrill. Perhaps she won't be utterly consumed by anger and bitterness, and will still continue to preach leniency and compassion to her master… as long as she can remember what those things are."

"It's not impossible, but I would rather prefer that all our plans to stop Solas didn't hinge on Merrill's mood swings," Riona sighed.

"No… and to that extent, I've been thinking about something," Bethany replied. "Do you remember when Solas said something about how we have already inadvertently helped him while working for the Inquisition?" Riona nodded at that. "What do you think he meant by that?"

"Well… that we stopped Corypheus, of course," Riona spoke firmly, then looking surprised when she saw her sister shaking her head. "What, do you think he meant something else?"

"Oh yes," Bethany nodded. "Stopping Corypheus wasn't really Fen'Harel's goal, not as such. It was just dealing with an unintended consequence of his overarching plan. No, I think we must have done something else… perhaps something he tricked us into doing…"

"And do you have any idea what it might be?" Riona asked with bated breath.

"I do, actually," Bethany said with a grim nod. "Do you remember those ancient elven artifacts that suddenly began to pop up all over the place after the creation of the Breach? Those glowing little spheres present almost in every ruin we explored, the ones that Solas showed us how to use?"

"Oh…" Riona blinked with realization. "But they served to strengthen the Veil! That's the opposite of what he wants!"

"Ah, but how do we know that it can only strengthen the Veil?" Bethany pointed out. "We know that it somehow controls the Veil. What if it also allows him to weaken the Veil and perhaps even outright destroy it?"

"Good point," Riona nodded, then snapping her fingers in instant realization. "And of course, Solas was the one who just somehow knew how to use those things, right? So… perhaps all those ages ago, he used these very artifacts to create the Veil? In that case, he could also use them to tear it down!"

"That's where I was going with this, Ri," Bethany said, smiling thinly. "The way I see it, right now this is our only avenue of exploration. What I want to do is to recover some of these artifacts and bring them to my arcane university for serious study. Maybe there is something we can find out about them. Perhaps we can manipulate these things to make the Veil impossible to destroy? I don't know… but we must try. I'd love to bring both you and Morrigan in on this research. You could both contribute in a big way."

"This… this could be big, Beth. But you're right, this is something we should explore. Whoa… I think I need a drink to stop my head from spinning. You?" Riona asked, rising from her seat and looking at her sister, Bethany responding with a shake of the head. Riona walked over to the drinks cabinet of the splendorous cabin usually reserved to diplomatic envoys making a trip from Orlais to Antiva or the Free Marches, returning to sit at the table with a bottle of expensive wine in her hand, pouring herself a glass, then another, and another.

It was only at the end of her third glass that Riona did speak up again after a lengthy silence. "It happened around five months after Mal's birth," she spoke up slowly. Bethany turned to look at Riona, about to ask what her sister was talking about, but then noticing the serious look on Riona's face and deciding to simply let her sibling continue. "It was a dark and dreary autumn evening at the Hawke Estate and I was getting annoyed with everything and everyone, snapping at those who got in my way. The babies were particularly insufferable and impossible to calm down, and I ended up chewing out one of the servants for something completely inconsequential. I was about to snap at Morrigan as well, but then she called me out on being an annoying bitch, telling me that I badly needed to get laid."

"Ah…" Bethany exclaimed, finally realizing where her sister was going with this story. Unfortunately, her exclamation made Riona hesitate and pause, as if she was no longer certain whether she wanted to continue. "Please, go on Ri," Bethany urged softly. "I can sense that you really need to share this."

"Well… I snapped back at her that yes, perhaps I needed to get laid, but then so did she because she was just as insufferable most of the time," Riona eventually decided to continue. "To my surprise, she actually agreed with that and we spent the rest of the evening laughing about it and drinking copious amounts of wine. We were about to call it a night when she suddenly out of the blue made this offhanded remark about how we could possibly help each other with this 'needing to get laid' matter. It took me completely by surprise, and like a complete idiot I could only mutter that I don't really like women that way. In response to that, Morrigan only grinned and whispered to me that it won't be a problem, telling me to go to my bedroom and wait."

Riona took another big swig from her wine glass, refilling it before she continued to speak, setting the by now empty bottle aside, swiftly polished off all by herself without Bethany's help. "I guess curiosity got the better off me, because I decided to go along with it," she said eventually. "When Morrigan came to my room a little later, she was… changed. The smartest thing probably would have been to just send her away, but she had changed into someone… well, very handsome, and I had had quite a lot to drink that evening, so I figured… what's the harm? And… well, I must say, I don't regret that experience," she confessed, her cheeks turning a dark shade of red. "I guess it was because underneath her changed shape was still a female mind, knowing acutely just how to please another woman, so it was quite unlike with any other partner before. I don't want to compare, but…"

"You don't have to worry, sister," Bethany smiled. "I've only ever had two partners and they both are women, so I think I understand what you mean."

"Well, not really, I don't think any of them had a-…" Riona cut herself off at the last moment before saying something quite lewd, both siblings blushing darkly at that. "I mean, the toys just don't feel quite the same," the older of the sisters pointed out embarrassingly. "Anyway… what I wanted to say is that it felt amazing, but at the same time really awkward."

"I can imagine," Bethany nodded seriously. "How did you react afterwards?"

"Morrigan snuck out after we were done having sex, and I spent most of the night thinking of just what to say to her the morning after," Riona sighed. "But Morrigan made it really easy for me. She simply made sure not to give me a chance to even bring it up. It was as if it had never happened."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Bethany rolled her eyes. "So, was that the only time it happened?"

"Err… no," Riona muttered, blushing yet again. "Over the past year and a half, it has happened on six separate occasions… and I remember each one of them very vividly. It just… happens, and the aftermath is always the same, she just won't allow me to even bring it up. I honestly don't know what to think anymore."

"I can only imagine how confusing that would be," Bethany sighed, shaking her head. "Given the opportunity, would you want to be with her? I mean… a more meaningful relationship than friends with benefits?"

"That's the problem, Beth," Riona sighed deeply. "I'm still not attracted to women. Can you really be together with someone if you can only enjoy intimacy with them when they are changed into someone they're actually not?"

"Mhm…" Bethany mused thoughtfully. "Is the thought of sleeping with the female Morrigan truly repulsive to you?"

"I… if I'm perfectly honest…" Riona hesitated a little before replying. "I feel as if it becomes a little less objectionable every time I sleep with her when she has shape changed. So, I don't know… maybe I could? Oh, I just don't know! Anyway, it's all moot speculation, I doubt she's really interested."

"I don't think she would lay with you even when shape changed if she truly felt nothing for you," Bethany pointed out. "Ri, if you're serious, perhaps you should just corner Morrigan and confront her about what she feels. What you both feel, really."

"Perhaps, but there's an added complication, Beth," Riona said. "Remember that Morrigan is living with a sword point hanging above her head. Given my previous relationships… I don't think I would dare to get romantically involved with someone like her. I feel as if she would be cruelly taken from me the moment we decided to be together as a couple. That would just be typical of Flemeth, wouldn't it? As soon as someone finds some happiness in their lives, she immediately shows up to extinguish it."

"Right… and I think that must be the reason why Morrigan refuses to even talk about it," Bethany mused. "She probably feels like she can't get involved with you, not when she has to live under this constant threat from Flemeth. That's why she pretends to be so aloof and brushes you right off, that has to be it. It's… very depressing, really," Bethany sighed, shaking her head in sadness. "To live in the shadow of death like that… robbing you even of thoughts of happiness. I feel so sorry for her."

"Just don't tell her that, I don't think she would appreciate it," Riona said, Bethany nodding in understanding.

"So what are you going to do now, Ri?" Bethany asked.

"I don't know yet," Riona shrugged helplessly. "No, actually I do know… once the children are a little older, I'm going to help Morrigan with what she has been working towards for the past decade. I'm going to help her break free from the curse of being the daughter of Flemeth."

* * *

 _Hawke Estate, Kirkwall_

Even though Bethany was more than eager to resume her journey back to Antiva City where Josephine waited patiently for her return, it had been some time since she had last visited Kirkwall, so her stay became extended from the initially planned two days to four. There was certainly plenty to do, starting from visiting with her uncle Gamlen, his wife Orana, as well as hanging out with her and Riona's cousin Charade, both sisters having become increasingly fond of the young woman who loved to frequent the seediest parts of Kirkwall, not limited to the Hanged Man, eventually revealing to Riona and Bethany her secret role as the Red Jenny of Kirkwall.

Most of Bethany's time in Kirkwall was spent entertaining her beloved nephew Malcolm and his favorite playmate, Morrigan's daughter Keira, two inquisitive and bright children, their time together filling Bethany with almost painful maternal urges. The children took to her very well, almost shadowing her steps all the time during her visit, something that Bethany did not object to in the slightest, and something that the two mothers appeared quite relieved about, finally having a little time to themselves. During the days of Bethany's stay in Kirkwall, Riona brought Morrigan up to speed with what had happened in the Crossroads, the dark witch promising to help in whatever capacity she could, but whether her sister had decided to bring up the topic of their relationship with Morrigan, Bethany could not tell, the dark witch's facial expression never giving away anything, always cordial, but distant at the same time. In any case, Morrigan still appeared to be taking the threat of Flemeth very seriously, never leaving the estate in broad daylight, only daring to go out under the cover of the night, or while shape changed.

On the third day of Bethany's stay in Kirkwall, a package arrived from Antiva City, Josephine promptly sending back the translated qunari parchments so that Bethany and her sister did not lose any valuable time. Studying these translated documents revealed some interesting new discoveries, while at the same time confirming many things they already suspected about the qunari plans. Perhaps the most telling information was the confirmation of what Bethany had already surmised, that the Triumvirate of the Qun had been very close to formally severing all ties with the Viddasala and stop funding her operation, after the Ben-Hassrath reports had been found in conflict with the Viddasala's own reports about how the operation in the South was proceeding. With this knowledge in mind, Josephine asked everyone involved to try and suppress the information that the qunari had been behind these terrorist attacks across the Southern Thedas. With the Triumvirate clearly not trying to start an all-out war, Bethany and Riona agreed with Josie that releasing this information and inciting the powers of the South to retaliate would be highly irresponsible. While they were still doubtful whether the truth would not come out even despite their efforts, none of them wanted to be the one to break the news and then have the blood of hundreds of thousands on their hands as a result.

Josephine was also quite detailed in her account of just how much damage the qunari attacks had done across Thedas. While Bethany and Riona had already picked up some of the rumors while traveling, it was very helpful to receive such a detailed report from their most trusted source in Thedas. Orlais had escaped disaster when Empress Celene, Marquise Briala and Divine Victoria had all managed to evade the attacks, but many a fortress and palace had been destroyed, and the Council of Heralds had been thinned quite considerably. In Ferelden, the only attack of note had been on the Royal Palace, and while it had caused a staggering death toll, Alistair and his pregnant wife had managed to escape by sheer good fortune. In Antiva, life continued without a hitch as the merchant princes squabbled about which insignificant noble to prop up as a figurehead for their country with no actual power in their hands. The Free Marches had been hit harder, but not all cities had suffered similarly. In Starkhaven and Tantervale, the holdings of many noble families had been reduced to rubble, and there were reports of Markham and Wycome also experiencing devastating explosions. Ostwick and Kirkwall, however, had remained untouched, whether through sheer luck or something going amiss in the qunari plans. In the nearby country of Nevarra, the consequences had been the most notable, finally solving the power struggle between the Pentaghasts and the Forsythias, driving the survivors of the long ruling Pentaghast family into exile in Orlais, where they would undoubtedly plot and plan to take back what they considered theirs.

The evening before Bethany's departure back to Antiva City, a small private party was being thrown at the Hawke Estate, featuring some of the oldest and dearest friends of the Hawke family. Varric, forgiven for writing his lewd and tawdry book, was in attendance, together with his slightly frustrated looking wife, Lace appearing perfectly in agreement when Morrigan time and again reminded the dwarf with a stern glare that she had not forgiven him just yet. Aveline had also managed to free an evening on her still busy schedule, the Orlesian Marcher starting to show some signs of aging from the rough life she had led, but the set of her jaw was as firm and steely as ever. Her husband Donnic sat next to her, as always kind, smiling and full of jovial cheer, the perfect counterbalance to Aveline's grim seriousness. Morrigan had been expected to sit down with them, but the dark witch had instead decided to remain a little on the sidelines, sitting down only to quickly nibble on some of the food on offer, afterwards appearing only episodically here and there throughout the evening, having to deal with the arduous task of putting the children to bed. However, Bethany could not help noticing the way Riona now and then kept looking for Morrigan, the youngest of the sisters left wondering just what the future held for her older sibling and Flemeth's daughter.

"You must visit again soon, Bethany," Aveline spoke up following lasting silence after the dinner, during which everyone was recovering from the rich serving of the chocolate mousse dessert. "And bring that lovely young lady of yours with you. She was such a delight to have around the last time you visited Kirkwall together."

"Yes, Josephine would like to visit soon, I'm sure," Bethany agreed with a smile. "But our duties get in the way all too often," she added with a sigh. _And unfortunately, I don't foresee a change for the better now that we have learned about the Dread Wolf and his plans._ Together with Riona and Morrigan they had spent the evening before discussing whether to bring any of their Kirkwall friends into their plans to counter Solas, eventually deciding against it. There was really no point in bringing Aveline and the Kirkwall Guard into it, at least not yet, as they would only be of any help if Solas suddenly began to operate in Kirkwall, which seemed extremely unlikely. Varric and Lace were potentially much more useful accomplices, but even so, Varric's spy network was focused on Kirkwall and loosely around the Free Marches, concentrating on the urban centers of civilization and the rumors constantly circulating therein, while the information that Bethany sought after was usually left buried somewhere in remote ruins out in the wilderness, not something that Varric's sources could help with. For that reason, they had decided to withhold the truth from Varric as well, at least for now, but allowing for the very real possibility that his help would likely come in very handy at some point later.

"Well, you could take some time off and go visit them in Antiva," Varric pointed out, grinning at Aveline. "I have to remind you all that this is a woman who has only taken off time from work once, and that was to go on her own honeymoon."

"Shady operators like you would certainly want me to take off more time, I'm sure," Aveline glared at the dwarf.

"Not just them," Donnic quipped with a suffering look on his face.

"Not you too," Aveline gave her husband a betrayed stare. "I took a day off on Harvestmere festival three years ago!"

"Only because you stabbed your foot on the chipped end of a spear and it got so badly infected and swollen that you couldn't get it into the boot," Donnic sighed. "Let me tell you that rushing to the Chantry for a healer so that my wife wouldn't die or have her leg amputated was not my idea of a relaxing day off."

"Exactly, I'm glad you agree," Aveline grinned smugly. "Days off are overrated, so it's much better to just spend our time working."

"Gah!" Donnic buried his head in his hands. "You are impossible to argue with!"

"So, Bethany," Lace spoke up as the others were still laughing about Aveline's exchange with her husband. "I saw you at the Hightown market with the children earlier today. It seemed like you have really taken to each other."

"Oh, you better believe it," Riona sighed. "I'm not looking forward to all the crying when they find out she's leaving tomorrow."

"What I meant to ask, though, was whether you and Josephine have thought about children of your own?" Lace asked, surprising Bethany a little.

"Well… I'm sure you can see how that could be a problem for us," Bethany replied with a light blush. "I know how that issue is sometimes settled amongst the nobility, but I don't think either of us wants to go there. I fear it could be damaging to a relationship."

"She speaks about a man making her or Josephine pregnant," Varric whispered to his confused looking wife, loud enough for most of them to overhear.

"Oh! Goodness, no!" Lace blushed, shaking her head vigorously. "I was thinking more about adoption!"

"I think I would be alright with that," Bethany nodded. "But unfortunately, Josie's mother is rather obsessed with blood purity… it's almost a little Tevinter in that regard. Josie's child would be first in line to inherit the estate from their mother, so Josie's parents insist that the child must be of Montilyet blood."

"Why are nobles always acting so ridiculously?" Lace shook her head. Even though marriage to Varric had elevated her to a position of reasonable importance in the higher societies of Kirkwall, requiring her to attend many balls and soirees, the dwarven woman had clearly remained true to herself in almost every aspect.

"That's just what being a noble means," Varric shrugged.

"And what about you, Varric?" Bethany asked. "You've been tightlipped about your plans this evening."

"Oh, I'm sure he's plotting on how to unseat Bran and become the next viscount," Riona laughed. "He just doesn't want to say too much because he's worried that Morrigan and I haven't truly forgiven him, and that we might do something to thwart his plans in revenge."

"I would never think that about you, Hawke," Varric clutched his chest, looking mortally offended.

"I'm sure you wouldn't," Riona rolled her eyes. "Anyway, there better not be any ridiculous books penned by you seeing the market in the near future."

"Oh, trust me, Hawke, I've learned my lesson with that," Varric spoke with a slightly worried stare directed at his wife.

"Yes, I do believe he has learned, Riona," Lace announced with an air of superiority that made everyone around the table chuckle.

"Well… I actually do have some stuff ready to be published, but I can assure you that those will be mere embarrassing smear pieces about Bran," Varric grinned knowingly.

"You'll be the most crooked viscount in the history of Kirkwall," Aveline sighed, shaking her head. "Let me assure you, Varric, all your activities will be monitored especially closely."

"You might be too busy dealing with some of the restructuring initiatives I have planned for the Kirkwall Guard," Varric replied with a wink that held clear promise of much shouting, bickering and arguing coming soon, especially in the case of Varric's promotion to the viscount of Kirkwall.

"I think that's enough discussion of politics," Riona said as she got up from the table and walked over to the drinks cabinet nearby to pick up a pair of bottles of wine, exchanging a few quiet words with Morrigan away from the ears of the others before returning to the table and passing the bottles over to Donnic to open them. "This is Bethany's last evening in Kirkwall before she departs again," Riona spoke up, raising a glass at her sister. "Perhaps we should talk of something more interesting than Varric's political aspirations, which I often suspect are motivated only by his eagerness to play around with the keys of the harbor."

"That's true, he talks in his sleep about raising and lowering those huge chains," Lace sighed at that, making Varric actually appear a little embarrassed and red in the face.

"How can you not miss all this bickering over there in Antiva City?" Aveline smiled at Bethany before accepting the refilled glass of wine from her husband.

"I do miss it a little bit, now and then," Bethany smiled back. "But right now, I'm really starting to get homesick for Antiva City and the Villa Montilyet," she added, taking a sip of the wine, feeling content as the friendly chatting and arguing around the table continued long into the evening and towards midnight. As their little private party slowly drew to a close, however, the image of her beloved became more and more prominent in Bethany's thoughts, filling her with almost painful longing. Suddenly, despite how enjoyable her stay in Kirkwall had been, she could not wait for her departure the following morning.


	15. Chapter 15

**Epilogue**

 _Antiva City_

Bethany could not stop herself from literally bouncing against the ship's railing as she waited for the trade vessel to be moored in the Antiva City docks, then having to wait some more for the ramps to be extended and secured while she tried to spot a very familiar and dear face in the crowd of people gathered nearby. Sadly, the crowd of people was simply too thick for her to reliably identify Josephine, even if at times she was sure to have managed to spot her beloved, still forced to wait before she could disembark. Condemned to waiting, Bethany tried to relax, taking deep breaths of the sea air that she felt she had certainly gotten enough over the past few weeks, though somehow it still felt sweeter and more refreshing here in Antiva. The air truly smelled different here, though she did not quite know why, perhaps mixing with the scents brought in from the countless vineyards dotting the surrounding hills, or perhaps it was merely the view of those same vineyards as the ship came into the harbor to dock, bringing with it the unmistakable sense of being back home. The only slight smudge in this perfect scenery surrounding Bethany was the smoldering crater where the late King Fulgeno's palace had stood, but it still did not detract from the joyous occasion of her homecoming.

Not having traveled on a Montilyet trading vessel this time, Bethany was forced to wait some more for the many envoys of the trade princes to disembark first, many of them carrying heavy belongings that required help of the dockworkers to safely bring ashore. When at least half an hour later Bethany was finally allowed to descend the secured ramp, the gathered crowd in the docks had shrunk considerably and she no longer had any difficulties picking out Josephine amongst those waiting, her beloved wearing a stunning dress of the already familiar Montilyet colors of rich gold and dark blue, featuring considerably fewer ruffles than her ambassador's outfit, the fashion in Antiva far more elegant and practical at the same time, especially when compared with the excesses of Orlais.

Bethany tensed, about to rush towards Josephine, but then freezing when she noticed that her beloved was not making a similar move, merely watching her with a soft smile on her lips. Someone else, however, was already rushing towards Bethany for a wild greeting, a small girl of four years of age with an ear-splitting grin on her face, wearing a simple purple dress, twin pigtails of almost jet-black hair bouncing around excitedly. The girl was followed by an equally excited looking pet fennec, barking as it chased after the child. "Bethany!" little Constance raved, about to slam into Bethany's midriff, but the mage reacted quickly and scooped the girl up into her arms and pressed the child against her chest in a tight hug.

"Connie!" Bethany exclaimed happily, hugging the girl and spinning her around, trying to ignore Ser Fluffsworth affectionately trying to bite her ankles. "I'm surprised you still remember me, poppet," she spoke fondly, reluctantly placing the excited girl back on the ground as she watched Josie slowly approaching them, having to dab at the corners of her eyes to wipe away tears of happiness.

"Course I do, silly," Connie gave Bethany an admonishing stare. "Remember how we used to play back in Ri-… Ri-… umm…"

"Rialto," Bethany corrected the girl with a grin on her face. "Of course, and we'll be sure to play lots and lots once we get back to the estate, yes?"

"Yes!" Connie nodded excitedly. "Also… Josephine speaks about you a lot. Like… **all** the time!"

"She does, hmm?" Bethany smiled, facing her beloved as she had walked up to the others by now. "I guess she must be missing me a little, then."

"You better believe it," Josephine sighed, sliding into Bethany's embrace, the two starting to kiss and immediately forgetting the passage of time around them, breaking apart only when little Constance started to tug on Josephine's dress, demanding attention.

"One of those men looked at you and then dropped a crate on his foot!" Connie announced, pointing towards the ship where a swearing sailor was jumping back and forth, holding his flattened foot with his hands.

"Umm… perhaps we should save a proper reunion for when we get back to the estate," Josephine suggested with a deep blush on her face. "Frustrating as that might be," she added quietly.

"It's nice to know that we still possess the power of distraction, though," Bethany winked at her beloved.

"Yes, well, anyway…" Josephine appeared a little distracted, for a moment forgetting what she was about to say. "Ah, yes… I have hired a carriage to bring us back to the estate. Shall we go? We could be back at the villa in less than half an hour. Yvette and the others are looking forward to seeing you again."

"Even your mother?" Bethany could not help but to ask as she took Connie by the hand, the girl reaching out to seek Josephine's grip with her other hand, walking between them as Ser Fluffsworth continued to run circles all around the trio as they walked.

"I had a… talk with her, just the other day," Josephine spoke, her voice turning stern and steely for a moment. "I explained her some things in no uncertain terms. I believe you will find her attitude towards you drastically changed, Bethany."

"Oh… oh," Bethany blinked, then smiling broadly at her beloved. "Ah, to be a fly on the wall in that conversation…"

"Umm… yes, well, sometimes a little forcefulness is required, even if I have been taught to treat my parents with the utmost respect," Josephine blushed again as they eventually reached the carriage waiting for them, the pair helping Connie inside and then spending a few minutes trying to persuade and catch Ser Fluffsworth.

"Did you behave while the mistress was away, Ser Fluffsworth?" Bethany chuckled as the carriage slowly began moving on the meandering path away from the docks, the mage tickling the underside of the fennec's jaw with her index finger, Ser Fluffsworth looking exhausted but still delighted as he captured Bethany's finger between his teeth and began to nibble on it. "Of course, you didn't behave at all, which is only to be expected from a sneaky little fuzzball like you," she sighed at the little fox resting in her lap.

"We played lots and lots of hide and seek in the gardens," Constance spoke, nodding seriously as she sat next to Bethany in the carriage, constantly tugging on her arm. "I always lost," she added reluctantly, making Josephine sitting opposite to them chuckle as she regarded them fondly.

"No, I believe I always lost whenever I had the time to join you," Josephine grinned.

"Not enough," Connie shook her head determinedly. "You work too much, Josie."

"Of that we are in agreement, Connie," Bethany nodded. "Unfortunately, you'll probably be saying that about me as well. But what Josie and I are doing is very, very important, so… I'm afraid life can't be all fun and games for us."

"I don't like the sound of that," Connie announced with finality.

"How do you even argue with that?" Bethany laughed, looking at her beloved.

"You just don't," Josephine replied with a playful wink as the carriage continued on its way towards the estate, the pair simply exchanging fond stares as they listened to Connie ramble on and on about all the things she and Bethany and Josie would do together once they arrived back at the estate… only to go suspiciously silent a few minutes later, leaning in heavily against Bethany's side.

"She dozed off, didn't she?" Bethany whispered, mindful not to wake the precious little girl.

"Oh yes," Josephine nodded with a loving stare as she gazed upon Connie. "It was inevitable, I'm afraid. She spent the whole morning jumping and running around, overexcited about seeing you again. The backlash was sure to come soon."

"This gives us a chance to talk, at least," Bethany spoke. "Though… to be honest, I'm looking forward to more than just talking, though I suppose that will have to wait until the evening."

"I can't wait for it either, Beth," Josephine nodded, smiling at her. "To be parted from you for this long was more painful than I expected it to be. So yes, I cannot wait for the evening to come either. But I imagine we will have a lot to talk about before that, yes?" she asked, unable to stop her eyes from drifting towards Connie.

"Yes, I imagine we will," Bethany nodded seriously. _And I can already imagine what one of the topics of conversation will be,_ she thought to herself as she turned to look at Constance, firmly asleep as she leaned in against Bethany's side. _There is no way Josie is letting that girl out of her sight ever again, I can see it in her eyes. And to be honest… I don't mind. No, it's more than I don't mind… I want it as well. Just to feel her weight against me as she rests… it fills me with a feeling that this is somehow right. A feeling of being a proper family. I have no doubt whatsoever that Josie and I both want the same thing. Hopefully this works out and Connie can accept us as her surrogate parents._

"I take it that you agree with my decision not to tell anyone about who's behind the attacks," Josephine whispered at her, distracting Bethany from her more maternal thoughts.

"Oh… of course," Bethany nodded swiftly. "Nobody should want another war with the Qunari. Now, I'm sure the truth will come out sooner or later, but hopefully the qunari will be quick to condemn these attacks as a work of a splinter group, and hopefully the powers that be in the South will accept that explanation."

"It might be more helpful if the qunari didn't wait to be caught, but instead came out and admitted what happened before the inevitable happens," Josephine sighed. "But somehow I don't think they will."

"They won't, no," Bethany nodded in agreement.

"I will want to hear more about your adventures, Beth," Josephine then spoke a little more firmly. "You've barely told me anything about what you and Riona both went through to stop the qunari attacks."

"There's so much to tell that this short carriage ride is not a good place where to begin," Bethany replied.

"At least tell me about Merrill," Josephine insisted. "What was it like to meet her after all these years? How is she doing?"

"I…" Bethany began a little nervously, licking her lips as she wondered just how to phrase her reply. "She has changed, Josie. More than any of us could have expected. And… I'm afraid not in a good way."

"What do you mean?" Josephine asked, looking deeply surprised.

"The knowledge she has been studying over these past few years has made her very powerful, perhaps more powerful than Riona's and my power combined," Bethany sighed. "Unfortunately, while she has gained power, she has lost a great deal of her humanity. And I do literally mean humanity even if I'm talking about an elf."

"So, what happened?" Josephine pressed. "Did you part on bad terms?"

"You could say that," Bethany admitted with sadness crossing her features. "The girl I once fell in love with… I no longer see her in Merrill. She's all but gone now, and I don't truly know the Merrill that has replaced her. I don't think we can count on her assistance in the future," she added, deciding not to mention Merrill's ill-fated attempt of trying to lure her away from Josie.

"It sounds like there's a story behind all that," Josie remarked, looking more and more curious. "I think I'll want to hear about it in greater detail."

Bethany nodded at the words of her beloved, deep in thought as the carriage slowly pulled up to the gates of Villa Montilyet. _So how much do I tell Josie about what happened,_ she thought to herself. _Should I even tell her about the plans of Fen'Harel? If we are going to build a proper family around little Constance, should I burden her with knowledge of the Dread Wolf's plans to destroy this world? Josie is not an expert on the arcane… it's not as if she can help me with research of the elven artifacts. I could bring her in on the whole plot only later when I truly need her assistance._

 _Then again… how would she react if I told her all this only several years later? How would I feel if our positions were reversed, wouldn't I want to know the truth? I absolutely would, and I would be quite mad for being kept out of the loop. And can I even do it without Josephine's love and support throughout every step of the way? Perhaps I could… but it would be a much easier road with her backing me up… and besides, I would feel horrible for withholding something so important from her. No… no, there can't be any such secrets between us. It is a practice that only erodes a relationship._

"Bethany?" she snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of Josephine's voice, her beloved already standing outside the carriage and holding the doors open for her, Bethany quickly swooping the sleeping girl up into her arms and passing her over for Josie to carry, then stepping out herself while being mindful not to step on Ser Fluffsworth, darting around them and making a general nuisance of himself.

"Let's go inside and put Connie to bed, shall we?" Bethany whispered, wrapping her arm around Josie's waist and helping her carry the girl as they began to walk towards the entrance into the villa. "And after that, we'll sit down and I will tell you everything," she spoke, leaning closer to press a kiss against Josephine's cheek. "I wish I had better news to share with you, though," Bethany added with a sigh. "There is a conflict looming on horizon, and we must begin preparing immediately."

"Are you talking about a war with the qunari?" Josephine asked. "We might be able to stave it off for some time if we are careful…"

"No, I'm not talking about a war with the qunari… although I almost wish I was, because that conflict would be much more predictable than the one we're facing," Bethany attempted to explain, aware that her words did not make a lot of sense without proper context. "The war facing us will be very different, Josie. Instead of battlefields and city sieges, this war will be fought in ancient elven ruins, and instead of swords, bows and staves, it will be fought with knowledge of arcane and ancient elven lore."

"I don't understand, Bethany… who would we fight in such a strange conflict?" Josephine appeared very confused, something that Bethany could easily sympathize with.

"The ancient elven god, Fen'Harel… though we once knew him as Solas," Bethany spoke, smiling as she watched Josephine instantly coming to a halt and turning to give her a shocked wide-eyed stare. "No, I haven't lost my mind, Josie, and I will explain every little detail… and you will see that I am telling the truth. The Dread Wolf's shadow is spreading across Thedas… and we must be ready to face it."

 **THE END**


End file.
